# Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year

The Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year is a dormant basketball award given to the Pac-12 Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1986–87 season, the first year in which the league then known as the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) officially sponsored women's sports.
Two bodies voted for players of the year. The league's head coaches selected a winner since the award's inception, while media members who cover Pac-12 women's basketball presented their own version of the award in the 2009–10 season. As is the case with the corresponding men's award, coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.
Ten players have won the award more than once, but only two, Candice Wiggins of Stanford and Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon, have won three times, and only Ionescu has won all three awards consecutively. Six players have won a major end-of-season national award in the year that they won the conference award. Four of them are from Stanford: Jennifer Azzi claimed the Naismith Award and Wade Trophy in 1990; Kate Starbird won the Naismith Award in 1997; Wiggins received the Wade Trophy in 2008; and Chiney Ogwumike won the Wooden Award in 2014. The others are Kelsey Plum of Washington, who won all three major awards in 2017, and Ionescu, who received the Wade Trophy and Wooden Award in 2019 and all three major awards in 2020.
There have been four shared awards. Starbird and Tanja Kostić of Oregon State tied for the coaches' award in 1996. In 2015, Reshanda Gray of California won the coaches' award and Ruth Hamblin of Oregon State won the media award. The following year, Jamie Weisner of Oregon State won the coaches' award outright and shared the media award with Jillian Alleyne of Oregon. Most recently, Stanford teammates Cameron Brink and Haley Jones shared honors in 2022, with Brink receiving the media award and Jones the coaches' award.
For most of the award's history, the list of honorees has been dominated by Stanford, which has had 12 players earn a total of 20 awards. The rest of the conference has had 17 players earn a total of 19 awards. However, Stanford's 2022 awards were the Cardinal's first since the 2013–14 season. Three of the then-Pac-12 members have never had a winner: established members Arizona State and Washington State, plus 2011 arrival Colorado.
The Pac-12 lost all but two of its members after the 2023–24 season, leading the remaining members, Oregon State and Washington State, to become affiliates of the West Coast Conference in most sports, including women's basketball, in 2024–25 and 2025–26. However, in a span of less than three weeks in September 2024, the Pac-12 added six new members effective in 2026–27—Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Utah State. With eight confirmed members, conference play is expected to resume in 2026, with the award to again be presented starting in 2027.

## Key

| † | Co-Players of the Year |
| * | Awarded a national Player of the Year award: Wade Trophy (1977–78 to present) Naismith College Player of the Year (1982–83 to present) John R. Wooden Award (2003–04 to present) |
| C | Pac-12 coaches selection (2010–present) |
| M | Media selection (2010–present) |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Pac-12 Player of the Year award at that point |

## Winners

| Season | Player | School | Position | Class |
| 1986–87 | Lauri Landerholm | Oregon | Guard | Senior |
| 1987–88 | Cheri Nelson | USC | | |
| 1988–89 | Jennifer Azzi | Stanford | Guard | Junior |
| 1989–90 | Jennifer Azzi* (2) | Stanford | Guard | Senior |
| 1990–91 | Sonja Henning | Stanford | Guard | Senior |
| 1991–92 | Val Whiting | Stanford | | Junior |
| 1992–93 | Val Whiting (2) | Stanford | | Senior |
| 1993–94 | Natalie Williams | UCLA | | Senior |
| 1994–95 | Tanja Kostić | Oregon State | Forward | Junior |
| 1995–96$^†$ | Tanja Kostić (2) | Oregon State | Forward | Senior |
| 1995–96$^†$ | Kate Starbird | Stanford | Guard | Junior |
| 1996–97 | Kate Starbird* (2) | Stanford | Guard | Senior |
| 1997–98 | Adia Barnes | Arizona | | Senior |
| 1998–99 | Maylana Martin | UCLA | | Junior |
| 1999–2000 | Shaquala Williams | Oregon | Guard | Sophomore |
| 2000–01 | Felicia Ragland | Oregon State | Guard | Junior |
| 2001–02 | Nicole Powell | Stanford | Forward | Sophomore |
| 2002–03 | Giuliana Mendiola | Washington | Guard | Junior |
| 2003–04 | Nicole Powell (2) | Stanford | Forward | Senior |
| 2004–05 | Candice Wiggins | Stanford | Guard | Freshman |
| 2005–06 | Candice Wiggins (2) | Stanford | Guard | Sophomore |
| 2006–07 | Devanei Hampton | California | | Sophomore |
| 2007–08 | Candice Wiggins* (3) | Stanford | Guard | Senior |
| 2008–09 | Jayne Appel | Stanford | | Junior |
| 2009–10 | Nneka Ogwumike | Stanford | Forward | Sophomore |
| 2010–11 | Jeanette Pohlen | Stanford | Guard | Senior |
| 2011–12 | Nneka Ogwumike (2) | Stanford | Forward | Senior |
| 2012–13 | Chiney Ogwumike | Stanford | Forward | Junior |
| 2013–14 | Chiney Ogwumike* (2) | Stanford | Forward | Senior |
| 2014–15 $^†$ | Reshanda Gray$^C$ | California | Forward | Senior |
| 2014–15 $^†$ | Ruth Hamblin$^M$ | Oregon State | Center | Junior |
| 2015–16 $^†$ | Jillian Alleyne$^M$ | Oregon | Forward | Senior |
| 2015–16 $^†$ | Jamie Weisner$^{C,M}$ | Oregon State | Guard | Senior |
| 2016–17 | Kelsey Plum* | Washington | Guard | Senior |
| 2017–18 | Sabrina Ionescu | Oregon | Guard | Sophomore |
| 2018–19 | Sabrina Ionescu* (2) | Oregon | Guard | Junior |
| 2019–20 | Sabrina Ionescu* (3) | Oregon | Guard | Senior |
| 2020–21 | Aari McDonald | Arizona | Guard | Senior |
| 2021–22 $^†$ | Cameron Brink$^M$ | Stanford | Forward | Sophomore |
| 2021–22 $^†$ | Haley Jones$^C$ | Stanford | Guard | Junior |
| 2022–23 | Alissa Pili | Utah | Forward | Junior |
| 2023–24 | Cameron Brink (2) | Stanford | Forward | Senior |

## Winners by school

| School (year joined) | Winners | Years |
| Stanford (1959) | 21 | 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996$^†$, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2022 (×2)$^†$, 2024 |
| Oregon (1964) | 6 | 1987, 2000, 2016$^†$, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| Oregon State (1964) | 5 | 1995, 1996$^†$, 2001, 2015$^†$, 2016$^†$ |
| Arizona (1978) | 2 | 1998, 2021 |
| California (1959) | 2 | 2007, 2015$^†$ |
| UCLA (1959) | 2 | 1994, 1999 |
| Washington (1959) | 2 | 2003, 2017 |
| USC (1959) | 1 | 1988 |
| Utah (2011) | 1 | 2023 |
| Arizona State (1978) | 0 | — |
| Colorado (2011) | 0 | — |
| Washington State (1962) | 0 | — |

## Footnotes

* ↑ For purposes of this table, the "year joined" reflects the year that each team joined the conference now known as the Pac-12 as currently chartered. Although the Pac-12 claims the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), founded in 1915, as part of its own history, that conference disbanded in 1959 due to infighting and scandal. That same year, five PCC members established the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) under a new charter that functions to this day. The Player of the Year Award was not established until 1987, by which time the conference membership included all of the final members of the PCC except for Idaho, plus 1978 arrivals Arizona and Arizona State.