Kami Walk repeated as an All-Cascade Conference selection, Brianna Phiakhamngon joined her on the 15-person team, and Kalei Iwami received honorable mention to round out Southern Oregon’s representation on Wednesday’s CCC women’s basketball awards list.
Walk, a junior forward from Eugene who garnered NAIA All-America honorable mention last season, finished conference play with the sixth-highest scoring average among CCC players at 14.2 and the fourth-highest rebounding average at 8.2. She was also top-15 in field-goal percentage (43.1), free-throw percentage (75.7), 3-point percentage (33.7) and blocked shots (0.7). Walk was at her best down the stretch, recording eight double-doubles in her last 12 games and averaging 21 points on 53.7-percent shooting in her last five.
Phiakhamngon was No. 7 in points per game at 13.8 during CCC play and has scored 20-plus on five occasions. The senior point guard, who earned All-CCC honorable mention a year ago, also ranked 13th in assists (2.9), seventh in 3-point percentage (36.5) and 11th in 3-point makes per game (1.9).
Iwami is up to No. 6 on SOU’s 3-point makes list with 162 and after making 49 this season to average a career-best 9.4 points per game. The senior guard’s average of 1.6 3-point makes per game is the 15th-best among CCC players, and she tops the circuit leaderboard in free-throw percentage at 84.5 (60-of-71).
The Raiders (23-7 overall) finished third in the conference standings at 18-4 and advanced last week to the CCC Tournament semifinal round. They’re awaiting Thursday’s 4 p.m. NAIA National Tournament bracket reveal, in solid position to snag an at-large bid in the 64-team field.
Regular season co-champions Eastern Oregon and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) dominated the individual awards. LCSC guard Callie Stevens was the player of the year for second consecutive season, and the Warriors’ Sitara Byrd was named freshman of the year. EOU had the coach of the year in Anji Weissenfluh, the newcomer of the year in Bayley Brennan, and the co-defensive player of the year in Shaelie Burgess.
Content used with permission, compliments of SOU Sports
Photo by Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
