Hamblin, Weisner and Wiese on Naismith Watch List
December 10, 2015 | Women's Basketball
CORVALLIS – Oregon State women's basketball players Ruth Hamblin, Jamie Weisner and Sydney Wiese have all been named to the Naismith Trophy Early Season Watch List, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday. The Beavers were tied with Connecticut and South Carolina as the only teams to place three players on the 50-player list.
The Naismith Award is one of the most prestigious awards in college sports, and is awarded to the top collegiate player each season.
Hamblin has proven herself to be among the nation's elite over the course of her collegiate career, entering the 2015-16 season as a consensus preseason All-American and as Lindy's Magazine's favorite to win National Defensive Player of the Year. The Second-Team Academic All-American is the NCAA's active career-leader in blocked shots with 314, and is closing in on second on the Pac-12's all-time list. She is also nearing the 1,000 career point mark, needing just 55 more to reach that milestone. This season, Hamblin is averaging 13.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, and is coming off a 17-point, 17-rebound, seven-block performance at Marquette. The 6-foot-6 Canadian racked up the honors in her junior campaign, earning Pac-12 Media Player of the Year, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and AP Third-Team All-America recognition.
Weisner has already broken into the Beavers' all-time top-10 for career points. She is second in Oregon State history with 191 3-pointers made, and has shot 40.4 percent from beyond the arc in her career. Weisner earned Pac-12 First Team honors last season, after being selected as an all-conference honorable mention the prior two years, and was named ESPNW National Player of the Week on Jan. 26, 2015. Weisner is averaging a team-high 21.2 points per game this season, and has scored over 20 points four times this season and 19 times in her career. She is among the best shooters in the nation, hitting of 59 percent of her field goal attempts this season, and has converted 20 of her 21 free throw attempts.
Wiese has earned First Team Pac-12 honors in back-to-back seasons, and is among the nation's elite 3-point shooters. The junior shattered the Oregon State career-3-pointers record last season, and is already closing in on the top-10 in Pac-12 history. She is the NCAA's active leader and Oregon State's record holder for career 3-point percentage at 42.4, and will look to crack the 1,000-point mark this week, currently sitting at 984. Wiese has been an excellent distributor of the basketball throughout her career, cracking the Beavers' top-10 in career assists last week. She has also become an outstanding rebounder early in the 2015-16 campaign, sitting tied for the team lead with 8.3 boards per contest.
Oregon State is ranked No. 7 in both polls for the third-straight week, and will host Idaho Saturday at 2 p.m. at Gill Coliseum. The Beavers will follow that up by taking on Cal State Bakersfield Tuesday, before it hosts Tennessee in a marquee matchup on Dec. 19.
Tickets for every Beaver home game this season are available at BeaverTickets.com or by calling 800-GOBEAVS. Thirteen home games remain on this year's schedule, including marquee matchups against Tennessee, Stanford and Arizona State.
