REVISED: Smith Highlights Baylor WBB’s Big 12 Honors, Named Player of the Year

[Robarts, Kyle]

*** All, due to an oversight, Baylor’s DiDi Richards was not reflected as a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team in the original release. Her selection was unanimous by the Big 12 head coaches and the below release and attached Big 12 PDF reflects the change ***

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 10, 2021

Smith Highlights Baylor WBB’s Big 12 Honors, Named Player of the Year
Carrington, Ursin, Richards and Egbo also recognized by league coaches
For more information contact: Kyle Robarts, 254-405-9492, Kyle_Robarts at baylor.edu<mailto:Kyle_Robarts at baylor.edu>

2020-21 Lady Bears head shots: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ly1jqnx5i6dfagk/AAAo20mNe1mnznHlnDquyfD8a?dl=0

WACO, Texas – The Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year lived up to the hype, and Wednesday, Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith added the Big 12 Player of the Year award to her trophy case. The league office announced the 2021 Big 12 Postseason Awards with Smith taking home the top individual honor, and four others from the regular-season champion, No. 6-ranked Lady Bears were honored.

Smith, a 6-3 junior power forward from Converse, Texas, finished the regular season leading the 22-2 Lady Bears with 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest. She shot 54.1 percent from the field and tallied 10 double-doubles this season.

In addition to being selected as the Player of the Year, she was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team and Baylor’s only representative on the 10-person team. Smith is in the running for a trio of National Player of the Year awards, including the Naismith Trophy, the Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden Award. Wednesday’s announcement marked the second-straight season that Smith has been selected as an All-Big 12 First-Team selection.

Graduate transfer DiJonai Carrington was a unanimous selection by the Big 12 head coaches as the Newcomer of the Year and the Sixth Person of the Year. The Stanford transfer averaged 13.3 points per contest in the regular season for the Lady Bears, while grabbing 4.9 rebounds per contest and leading Baylor with 42 steals. She led the team in the regular season with 32 3-point field goals, and for her performance, she was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

Moon Ursin was recognized for her play on the court for the first time as a senior, picking up both All-Big 12 Second-Team honors, and she was named to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team. Ursin, a senior from Destrehan, La., shattered career bests this season by averaging 11.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest. Her 33 steals and 100 assists were both second on the team in the regular season, and she ranks 12th in the NCAA and 1st in the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.71:1).

DiDi Richards was named All-Big 12 Second Team for the second-straight season and was named unanimously to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team along with Ursin. Richards is a semifinalist for the 2021 Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year Award, an honor she won last season as a junior along with WBCA National Player of the Year honors. She was also the 2020 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Richards averaged 7.0 points per game, grabbed 31 steals while ranking 1st in the Big 12 and 7th in the nation in assists per game at 6.7. She ranks 17th in the nation and 2nd in the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.66:1.

Junior center Queen Egbo earned a spot on the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team after averaging 11.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest in the regular season. She shot 51.2 percent from the floor and led Baylor with 32 blocks. Last season Egbo was named Big 12 Sixth Person of the Year.

Smith’s nod as Big 12 Player of the Year marks the 12th time a Lady Bear has taken home the league’s top individual honor, and it is the fourth-straight year that at least one entity has named a Baylor player to the top award.

Carrington is the ninth Baylor player in history to be named Newcomer of the Year and the seventh to earn the Sixth Person award. Since the graduate transfer rule has been implemented, Baylor has had one such player win the Newcomer of the Year award in the Big 12 in three-straight seasons. Chloe Jackson won in 2019, Te’a Cooper took it in 2020 and Carrington was selected Wednesday.

Richards joined Lauren Cox, Odyssey Sims and Brittney Griner as the only Lady Bears to have earned All-Defensive team honors at least three times. Griner is Baylor’s only player to be named four times.

www.BaylorBears.com


___________________________________
Kyle Robarts | Associate Director, Athletics Communications (WBB, WTEN)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3042 | C: 254-405-9492

[cid:image001.png at 01D715DF.AA622CD0]<http://baylorbears.com/>
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