Beavers Hand Out Team Awards At Annual Banquet
April 20, 2016 | Women's Basketball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State women's basketball team celebrated the best season in program history Wednesday evening with a banquet at the Reser Club on OSU's campus, as fans recognized the Beavers for their accomplishments.
The dinner served not only to celebrate the tremendous 2015-16 season, but to honor the team's seniors as well, as the Beavers saluted the group of Ruth Hamblin, Deven Hunter, Samantha Siegner, Jamie Weisner and Jen'Von'Ta Hill. The outstanding quintet helped build the Beavers into a national power, leading the team to a pair of Pac-12 titles and a Final Four appearance.
Head Coach Scott Rueck and his staff handed out postseason awards, as voted on by members of the team and their coaches.
Weisner was honored as the team's Offensive Player of the Year, for a season that saw her earn WBCA All-America and Pac-12 Player of the Year honors. The senior was a two-time All-Pac-12 honoree, and finished her career with 1,777 career points, the sixth best total in school history, and the No. 35 total in the history of the Pac-12. Weisner is also among the top-10 in Pac-12 history in career 3-pointers, and sits eighth in Beaver history with 719 career rebounds.
Hamblin opened the awards by being honored with the Leading Rebounder Award. The center holds Oregon State's career and single season records for rebounds, and is among the top-10 scorers in program history. Over the course of her career, Hamblin posted an impressive 28 double-doubles, to go along with 65 double-digit scoring games. Among her career highlights is a 23-point, 20-rebound performance against UCLA in the Pac-12 Championship game, the third 20-20 game in Oregon State history.
Junior Sydney Wiese was honored as the recipient of the Carol Menken-Schaudt Teammate of the Year Award, given to “the person who exemplifies what a Beaver student-athlete should be….[and one] who is looked up to because of her work ethic, attitude, support and care for other teammates and is an outstanding representative of the program.” The award is named after OSU legend and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Carol Menken-Schaudt (1979-81). Wiese earned All-Pac-12 honors for the third-straight year this season, and is Oregon State's all-time leader in career 3-pointers made.
Fellow junior Gabriella Hanson was named Oregon State's Defensive Player of the Year. The guard served as the team's shut-down defender all season, and led the squad with 48 steals. Probably her best defensive outing of the year came in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinal, when she held All-American Kelsey Plum of Washington to 14 points on 4-for-19 shooting from the floor.
Freshman Taylor Kalmer was recognized as the Beavers' Most Improved Player. The first-year guard played some important minutes for Oregon State during the team's stretch run, particularly late in the Pac-12 season. Her season was highlighted by a 10-point performance against USC on March 4, as well as a seven-point outing against Troy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Conference and National recognition received its due as well. Along with her WBCA All-America and Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, Weisner was recognized for her AP and ESPNW All-America, as well as Most Outstanding Player honors at both the Pac-12 Tournament and Dallas Regional. Hamblin was honored as an All-Pac-12 honoree, as well as a WBCA All-District honoree and an AP All-America Honorable Mention. Wiese also earned All-Pac-12 recognition, to go along with AP All-America Honorable Mention and All-Dallas Regional honors. Katie McWilliams was recognized for receiving Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention, while Hanson was honored for her Pac-12 All-Defensive Honorable Mention nod.
Academic achievements were recognized as well, as the Beavers saw seven players honored by the conference for academic prowess. Hamblin earned Pac-12 First Team All-Academic status, along with classmate Samantha Siegner. Wiese was a Second Team All-Academic honoree, while Hanson, Hunter, Weisner and Marie Gulich were Academic Honorable Mentions.
The evening, which was emceed by women's basketball radio broadcaster Ron Callan, began with opening remarks from Oregon State Deputy Athletics Director for Administration/Senior Women's Administrator Marianne Vydra and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury. University President Ed Ray then took the stage to provide a special message to the team. That was followed by some team thank-you's from director of player personnel Liz Clark, and a question and answer session with the players on the team.
The evening was capped off by speeches from all five of the team's seniors.
The 2015-16 Oregon State squad finished the campaign with 32 wins, the highest total in program history, including an impressive seven victories over ranked opponents. Along the way, the Beavers won their second-straight Pac-12 regular-season title, cutting down the nets as the best team in the nation's top league. They followed that up with another championship ceremony a week later, when they earned the program's first ever Pac-12 Tournament title.
The Beavers entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed, the highest seed in school history. After sweeping a pair of games at Gill Coliseum to open the tournament, Oregon State earned possibly the biggest win in program history in the Elite Eight, knocking off perennial powerhouse Baylor to earn a spot in the Final Four.
OSU will head into the 2016-17 season looking forward to another outstanding campaign. The team will return eight players, including a trio of juniors. The Beavers will also welcome in the highest-rated signing class in program history, made up of Mikayla Pivec (Lynwood, Wash.), Kat Tudor (Stockton, Calif.), Madison Washington (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Janessa Thropay (Chino, Calif.). To read more about the 2015 signing class, click here.
