2/28/2023 basketball Edit

Oregon State WBB: Beers Earns Pac-12 Freshman, 6th Player of the Year

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Raegan Beers earned a double dose of Pac-12 specialty awards on Tuesday, being named the Pac-12 Freshman and Sixth Player of the Year by a vote of the league’s coaches.

Beers is the first Oregon State player to win Pac-10/12 Freshman of the Year honors since Tanja Kostic in 1993. She is the second Beaver to win the Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year, joining Aleah Goodman.

In addition to the specialty awards, Beers was named to the All-Pac-12 team and the Pac-12 All-Freshman squad. This is the second consecutive season with a Beaver freshman on the All-Pac-12 team along with Talia von Oelhoffen.

Three Beavers earned honorable mention recognition from league coaches. Von Oelhoffen was named honorable mention All-Pac-12, Jelena Mitrovic was an honorable mention choice for the defensive team and Timea Gardiner earned honorable mention all-freshman honors.

Beers closed the regular season leading qualifying league freshmen in ten traditional and advanced statistical categories: rebounds per game (8.7), offensive rebounds per game (3.3), field goal percentage (57.8) EFG% (57.8), points per play (1.04), usage rate (26.4%), PER (32.4), win shares (6.1) and of course double-doubles (14). She also ranked in the top-three in points per game, offensive rating, defensive rating and blocks per game.

Her 14 double-doubles are the sixth-most for a Beaver in a single season, tying Beers with Tanja Kostic (1993-94) and Mikayla Pivec (2019-20). It also leads freshmen nationally and is the second-most by a Pac-12 freshman since 1999-00.

Von Oelhoffen’s season ended due to an injury before last weekend, but she led the Beavers in scoring for much of the season with 13.2 points per game. She also improved on the defensive end with career-highs in steals (32) and blocks (19). The sophomore was one of the Pac-12’s best rebounding guards with 4.3 boards per game and dished 3.1 assists per game.

Mitrovic continued her meteoric rise as a defender with more blocks in 2022-23 than the rest of her career combined. The redshirt sophomore swatted 42 shots and was one of three Pac-12 players with 5+ blocks in multiple games this season.

Gardiner joined the team later in the year but made an immediate impact as a scorer while growing as a rebounder. She averaged 9.2 points per game with six games of ten-or-more points. The Ogden, Utah native also grabbed eight or more rebounds in two of the last three games of the regular season and dished out five assists against no. 7 Utah.

Pac-12 Awards (Coach Vote)

Player of the Year: Alissa Pili, UTAH

Defensive Player of the Year: Cameron Brink, STAN

Freshman of the Year: Raegan Beers, OSU

Sixth Player of the Year: Raegan Beers, OSU

Co-Most Improved Players of the Year: Shaina Pellington, ARIZ & Aaronette Vonleh, COLO

John R. Wooden Coach of the Year: Lynne Roberts, UTAH

All-Pac-12

Raegan Beers, OSU

Cameron Brink, STAN

Haley Jones, STAN

Hannah Jump, STAN

Gianna Kneepkens, UTAH

Charlisse Leger-Walker, WSU

Destiny Littleton, USC

Rayah Marshall, USC

Quay Miller, COLO

Charisma Osborne, UCLA

Shaina Pellington, ARIZ

Alissa Pili, UTAH

Cate Reese, ARIZ

Endyia Rogers, ORE

Jaylyn Sherrod, COLO

Kadi Sissoko, USC

Honorable Mention: Jayda Curry, CAL; Dalayah Daniels; WASH; Frida Formann, COLO; Jenna Johnson, UTAH; Esmery Martinez, ARIZ; Leilani McIntosh, CAL; Kennady McQueen, UTAH; Bella Murekatete, WSU; Te-Hina Paopao, ORE; Lauren Schwartz, WASH; Ty Skinner, ASU; Haley Van Dyke, WASH; Grace VanSlooten, ORE; Aaronette Vonleh, COLO; Talia von Oelhoffen, OSU.

All-Defensive Team

Cameron Brink, STAN

Rayah Marshall, USC

Shaina Pellington, ARIZ

Helena Pueyo, ARIZ

Jaylyn Sherrod, COLO

Honorable Mention: Okako Adika, USC; Chance Gray, ORE; Charlisse Leger-Walker, WSU; Jelena Mitrovic, OSU; Jayda Noble, WASH; Charisma Osborne, UCLA; Jaddan Simmons, ASU; Kayla Williams, USC.

All-Freshman Team

Raegan Beers, OSU

Chance Gray, ORE

Londynn Jones, UCLA

Kiki Rice, UCLA

Grace VanSlooten, ORE

Honorable Mention: Lauren Betts, STAN; Timea Gardiner, OSU; Elle Ladine, WASH; Talana Lepolo, STAN; Astera Tuhina, WSU.