Big 12 awards roll in for WVU women

 
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Mike Carey, who led West Virginia to its winningest regular season ever, was named Big 12 women’s basketball coach of the year, and his players racked up honors as well.

Asya Bussie and Bria Holmes were chosen to the all-conference team, Taylor Palmer won the sixth-man award, and Jess Harlee and Bussie joined the all-defensive team.

The No. 7 Mountaineers (27-3, 16-2) shared the regular-season Big 12 title with Baylor and will be the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament that opens Friday in Oklahoma City. The Mountaineers earned a first-round bye and will play Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern in the quarterfinal against the TCU-Texas Tech winner.

Baylor’s Odyssey Sims, the nation’s top scorer at 29.6 points per game, won Big 12 player of the year and defensive player of the year honors.

Now in his 13th season, Carey previously won conference coach of the year honors in the Big East in 2004 and 2010.

Bussie, an All-Big East first-teamer in 2012, leads the nation with 133 career starts. She is WVU’s second-leading scorer with 13.2 points per game—ranking 11th in the Big 12—and leads WVU in rebounding (7.7). Bussie’s 65 blocked shots rank No. 36 nationally and she is second on WVU’s career list with 264 blocks.

Holmes was WVU’s top scorer and ranks seventh in the Big 12 at 14.8 points per game. She has led the Mountaineers in scoring for 12 times, including six 20-point games and 21 double-figure outputs.

Palmer’s 3-point shooting helped make her the Mountaineers’ fourth-leading scorer at 10.2 points per game.

Harlee, a senior who earned all-defensive team recognition for a second consecutive season, twice blocked late-game shots to preserve WVU victories.

ALL-BIG 12 TEAM

ALL-BIG 12 SECOND-TEAM

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM