Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto
10/25/21 | Women's Basketball
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Players Mentioned
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