Big 12 Announces 2023-24 Women's Basketball Awards

POSTED: March 6, 2024 -- 8:10 a.m. CT

Oklahoma's Skylar Vann and Texas' Madison Booker were selected as Big 12 Co-Players of the Year, as the 2023-24 All-Big 12 women's basketball awards were unveiled. The awards were voted on by the head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.

Oklahoma's Jennie Baranczyk (Coach of the Year) and Payton Verhulst (Newcomer of the Year) joined Vann in winning superlative awards. DeYona Gaston (Sixth Player Award) joins Booker, who also won Freshman of the Year, as Longhorn superlative winners. West Virginia's JJ Quinerly was named Defensive Player of the Year.

Booker, Quinerly, Vann and Verhulst were all named to the All-Big 12 First Team, joined by Lauren Gustin (BYU), Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Taiyanna Jackson (Kansas), S'Mya Nichols (Kansas), Ayoka Lee (Kansas State) and Serena Sundell (Kansas State). Crooks, Lee, Vann and Booker were all unanimous selections.

Vann averaged 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds during Conference play, while shooting an even 50.0% from the field, all of which rank among the top eight in the league. She added six 20+ point games as the award went to a Sooner for the first time since Courtney Paris in 2009, and for the seventh time overall. Vann had previously won the Sixth Player Award the last two seasons, and joins Lauren Cox (Baylor, 2020) as the only former Sixth Player Award winner to go on to win Player of the Year.

Booker is the first freshman to win a share of Big 12 Player of the Year, averaging 20.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists during the 18-game league schedule. She joins Brooke McCarty (2017) as the only Texas players to win Player of the Year, while she is the second Longhorn to take home Freshman of the Year in the past three seasons.

Baranczyk was named Coach of the Year after leading the Sooners to a second consecutive regular season title. OU, who was voted fifth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, replaced four starters from last season's team to go 15-3 and win the regular season title outright. The award goes to a Sooner head coach for the first time since 2009, and fifth time overall, while it is the third conference coach of the year honor for Baranczyk, earning the award twice in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Quinerly is the first West Virginia player to earn Defensive Player of the Year, leading the Mountaineer defense to lead the league in fewest points allowed (60.3), steals (13.2) and turnover margin (+8.1) during Conference play. Her 2.8 steals per Big 12 game ranked second, while she maintained an offensive output of 19.4 points per game.

Verhulst helped the Sooners to the regular season title by averaging 13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists against Big 12 opponents, marks which rated among the league's top-10. Her 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked second as she became the third Oklahoma player to receive the award, and first since 2015.

Among reserves who played 15-or-more games, Gaston led the Big 12 with 8.8 points off the bench as she became the first Longhorn to earn the Sixth Player Award. Among all players, Gaston ranked 10th in league games with 0.9 blocks per Conference game.

Co-Player of the Year: Skylar Vann, Oklahoma and Madison Booker, Texas

Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Quinerly, West Virginia

Freshman of the Year: Madison Booker, Texas

Newcomer of the Year: Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma

Sixth Player Award: DeYona Gaston, Texas

Coach of the Year: Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma

All-Big 12 First Team

Lauren Gustin, BYU

Audi Crooks, Iowa State*

Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas

S'Mya Nichols, Kansas

Ayoka Lee, Kansas State*

Serena Sundell, Kansas State

Skylar Vann, Oklahoma*

Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma

Madison Booker, Texas*

JJ Quinerly, West Virginia

All-Big 12 Second Team

Sarah Andrews, Baylor

Kaitlin Peterson, UCF

Madison Conner, TCU

Aaliyah Moore, Texas

Jordan Harrison, West Virginia

All-Big 12 Honorable Mention:

Aijha Blackwell (Baylor), Dre'Una Edwards (Baylor), Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (Baylor), Kailey Woolston (BYU), Jillian Hayes (Cincinnati), Laila Blair (Houston), Addy Brown (Iowa State), Zakiyah Franklin (Kansas), Holly Kersgieter (Kansas), Gabby Gregory (Kansas State), Nevaeh Tot (Oklahoma), Sahara Williams (Oklahoma), Anna Gret Asi (Oklahoma State), Sedona Prince (TCU), Shaylee Gonzales (Texas), Shay Holle (Texas), Taylor Jones (Texas), Bailey Maupin (Texas Tech), Jasmine Shavers (Texas Tech)

Big 12 All-Defensive Team

Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas

Ayoka Lee, Kansas State

Shay Holle, Texas

Jordan Harrison, West Virginia

JJ Quinerly, West Virginia

Big 12 All-Freshman Team

Addy Brown, Iowa State

Audi Crooks, Iowa State*

S'Mya Nichols, Kansas*

Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State

Madison Booker, Texas*

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