Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (Press Release from Oregon Athletics) EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon sophomore guard Te-Hina Paopao was one of 20 players named to the preseason watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, given annually to the top point guard in the nation. Paopao is coming off of a freshman season in which she earned All-Pac-12 honors while also being named to the all-freshman team. She became just the fifth UO player ever to receive first-team all-conference recognition and the first since Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard in 2016-17. Paopao averaged 10.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while leading the team with 4.4 assists per contest and shooting 39.5 percent (30-for-76) from three-point range. The Oceanside, Calif. native led all freshmen nationally and finished fourth overall in the Pac-12 with a 2.40 assist-to-turnover ratio. Her 84 assists last year were also the eighth-most in school history by a freshman and her 4.4 assists per game ranked fourth overall in the conference. Paopao turned in 11 double-digit scoring performances, highlighted by a 22-point effort on the road against No. 15 Oregon State on Dec. 13. All of her double-figure scoring games came in Pac-12 play as she averaged 11.4 points per game and shot 40.6 percent from three-point range in conference contests. Paopao missed the final five games of the season due to injury. Paopao will look to become the second Oregon player to win the Nancy Lieberman Award and join Ionescu, who won it three straight years from 2018-20. Head coach Kelly Graves also coached the 2011 winner Courtney Vandersloot while at Gonzaga. The watch list for the award will be narrowed down to 10 in mid-February before five finalists are selected in March ahead of the award presentation at the end of the season. Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
