Utah's Gianna Kneepkens tabbed as Pac-12 Freshman of the Year


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SALT LAKE CITY — As the Utah women's basketball team prepares for a first-round matchup in the Pac-12 Tournament against California Wednesday, its leading scorer was honored by the conference in the league's postseason awards.

Gianna Kneepkens, who averaged 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in her first season with Utah, was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Wednesday when the conference released its end-of-season awards. Kneepkens earned five Freshman of the Week awards this season and was seemingly a lock for the award, though California's Jayda Curry was an equal contender.

The two, along with Utah's Jenna Johnson, Colorado's Kindyll Wetta and USC's Rayah Marshall, were named to the five-person All-Freshman Team.

Kneepkens, a Duluth, Minnesota, native, quickly made a name for herself with Utah and has the team primed for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the university joined the Pac-12 in 2011. She posted three 20-point games this season, including a 29-point performance off the bench against a ranked BYU team in December.

Utah head coach Lynne Roberts recently said she's been surprised by how "consistent" Kneepkens has been as a freshman.

"That's not typical of a freshman," Roberts said. "I didn't know how it would translate, and it translated really quickly, but she's been consistent. And even the games where she didn't maybe shoot a stellar shooting percentage, she's still doing other things that maybe don't show up.

"It's been awesome to see her just settle in, and she's such a humble kid that there's no worry of her getting overconfident or getting too smooth. She's just steady, which is cool. I think the sky's the limit for her and if she wants to be a professional, she can."

Kneepkens was also the only Utah player to be named to the 15-person All-Pac-12 Team, though Kennady McQueen was an honorable mention for the All-Pac-12 Team.

Stanford cleaned up the postseason honors, as would be expected from the No. 2 team in the country and the only team undefeated in Pac-12 play. Haley Jones was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year, Cameron Brink was named the Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Tara VanDerveer was named the John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

Colorado's Quay Miller was named the Sixth Player of the Year and USC's Jordyn Jenkins and Washington State's Bella Murekatete were both tabbed as Improved Player of the Year.

To see the full list of all the postseason honors, visit the Pac-12's website.

Utah opens up the Pac-12 Tournament with a first-round matchup against California on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks) at the Michelob ULTRA Arena (Mandalay Bay Events Center) in Las Vegas.

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Josh is the Sports Director for KSL.com and beat writer covering University of Utah athletics — primarily football, men’s and women's basketball and gymnastics. He is also an Associated Press Top 25 voter for college football.

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