IRVINE, Calif. – The PacWest Player of the Year is Concordia’s Michaela VanderKlugt, leading this year’s All-PacWest Team, which is voted on by the conference coaches.
 
Azusa Pacific’s Laura Pranger is the PacWest Defender of the Year after leading Azusa Pacific to the PacWest’s regular season title and Tavia Rowell from Hawai`i Pacific is the Newcomer of the Year. In a year with a strong freshman class that included a pair of true freshmen on the All-PacWest team, Biola’s Ammiah Simmons was voted the Freshman of the Year, and David Kaneshiro from Hawai`i Hilo is Coach of the Year.
 
VanderKlugt finished the regular season averaging a double-double with 18.8 points and 10.3 rebounds with a .500 shooting percentage, and helped the Eagles earn another berth into the PacWest Championships. She enters the tournament with the PacWest record for career rebounds and is within striking distance of the career scoring record. VanderKlugt has seven-consecutive games with double-digit scoring and has four double-doubles in that span. VanderKlugt is now a five-time All-PacWest selection, making her the first player to receive the honor five times.
 
Pranger also has her name all over the PacWest record book with the conference’s all-time blocks record. She has cracked the top-10 for single-season blocks three times. She has blocked 81 shots for an average of 4.8 blocks per game, which is far and away the most in NCAA Division II. Pranger also has 22 steals and has helped the Cougars as a team hold opponents to 59.0 points per game, which leads the conference. Pranger is a three-time All-PacWest selection in her career at Azusa Pacific.
 
Simmons helped Biola earn the No. 5 seed going into the PacWest Championships in her first year with the program. She averaged 17.3 points per game, which ranks fourth in the conference. She has scored at least 11 points in all of the last 18 games, and prior to that she had a run of five 20-point games in a row. She also has a streak of steals with 12-consecutive games with at least one steal going into the tournament.
 
Rowell ranked third in the conference in scoring with 17.6 points per game this season to go along with 6.0 rebounds. She had three double-doubles and was a key part of the team’s run late in the regular season to make a push that nearly ended in a spot in the PacWest Championships. She scored a season-high 30 points at Holy Names and backed that up with a 24-point performance two days later at Fresno Pacific as she earned third-team All-PacWest honors.
 
Kaneshiro led Hawai`i Hilo to a sixth-place finish in the PacWest standings, which is the best finish for the Vulcans in a decade. With the help of first-team All-PacWest selection Mandi Kawaha, the Vulcans had an 11-8 record in conference play. The high point of the regular season came right before the Christmas break, when Hawai`i Hilo earned an overtime win at home against Alaska Anchorage, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation by D2SIDA at the time.
 
Dominican’s Riley Friauf also earned First Team All-PacWest honors along with Azusa Pacific teammates, Paige Uyehara and Kayla Shaw. Friauf led the conference in scoring with 20.7 points per game and is third in rebounding this year. She helped the Penguins finish in second place in the conference standings. Uyehara were both key parts of helping the Cougars win their fourth PacWest regular season title with Uyehara leading the conference in assists, while Shaw led the conference in 3-pointers made.
 
Cara Liggins is a four-time All-PacWest selection for Point Loma. She ranks in the top-10 in PacWest history in career points and rebounds. Molly Whitmore, Stephanie Lee, Lauryn Manns and Katie Timmerman each earned their second All-PacWest honors.
 

2021-22 ALL-PACWEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL AWARDS
Player of the Year	Michaela VanderKlugt	Concordia
Defender of the Year	Laura Pranger	Azusa Pacific
Newcomer of the Year	Tavia Rowell	Hawai`i Pacific
Freshman of the Year	Amiah Simmons	Biola
Coach of the Year	David Kaneshiro	Hawai`i Hilo

2021-22 ALL-PACWEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
Name	School	Pos.	Yr.	Hometown/Previous School
FIRST TEAM
Michaela VanderKlugt****	Concordia	C	Sr.	Concord, Calif./Carondelet
Riley Friauf*	Dominican	F	Sr.	Vancouver, Wash./Concordia-Portland
Kayla Shaw*	Azusa Pacific	G	Sr.	Phoenix, Ariz./Delaware
Mandi Kawaha*	Hawai`i Hilo	G	Jr.	Hilo, Hawai`i/Hilo
Paige Uyehara	Azusa Pacific	G	So.	San Jose, Calif./St. Francis
Laura Pranger**	Azusa Pacific	F	Sr.	Denver, Colo./Cherry Creek
SECOND TEAM
Cara Liggins***	Point Loma	G	Jr.	Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia
Jasmine Rachal	Concordia	G	Jr.	Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda
Brittney Cedeno	Dominican	PG	Jr.	South San Francisco, Calif./South San Francisco
Amiah Simmons	Biola	G	Fr.	Osawatomie, Kan./Osawatomie
Alisha Wilson	Academy of Art	F	Fr.	Pomona, Calif./Bonita
Chanel Stuart	Academy of Art	G	Jr.	Elk Grove, Calif./Brookside Christian
THIRD TEAM
Molly Whitmore*	Azusa Pacific	F	So.	Adelaide, Australia/Portside Christian
Stephanie Lee*	Biola	G	So.	Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda
Tavia Rowell	Hawai`i Pacific	G	Jr.	Langley, Canada/Walnut Grove
Alex Lowden	Azusa Pacific	G	Jr.	Glendora, Calif./Glendora
Lauryn Manns*	Academy of Art	G	Jr.	Corona, Calif./Mount SAC
Katie Timmerman*	Concordia	G	Jr.	Torrance, Calif./West Torrance