Big West Release
IRVINE, Calif. - Junior
Déja Lee headlined the UC Irvine women's basketball team's end-of-season awards as she was named the 2023-24 Big West Player of the Year the conference office announced Tuesday afternoon.
Lee was also a first-team All-Big West selection. Graduate transfer
Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba was recognized as the Newcomer of the Year and garnered second-team all-conference distinction. Fifth-year senior
Diaba Konate was tabbed the Best Defensive Player, received an All-Big West honorable mention nod and made the All-Defensive Team for the second year in a row.
Shirel Nahum rounded out the Anteater quartet on the Big West All-Freshman Team.
Déja Lee (Surrey, B.C., Canada) finished The Big West regular season ranked second in the conference in scoring (14.8 ppg), second in steals (3.1 spg), fourth in field goal percentage (46.1%), fifth in 3FG percentage (37.4%) and fifth in 3FG made (2.0/gm). The 5-foot-9 guard reached double figures in scoring in 14 of 19 league games played. In an overtime win at Long Beach State on March 2, Lee went 9-for-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc for a career-high 29 points. She also finished with 22 points against Cal State Bakersfield (Dec. 30), 21 at Hawai'i (Feb. 3) and 20 vs. CSUN (Feb. 29). Overall, Lee has reached double digits in the scoring column a team-best 19 times with six 20-point performances. In addition, Lee registered 3+ steals 11 times during conference play with a career-high six takeaways at UC Davis (Jan. 6) and at UC San Diego (Jan. 18). Lee is currently tied for first in single-season school history with 74 steals and ranks 10th with 51 threes made.
Lee, who was an all-conference honorable mention selection last year, is the Anteaters' first Big West Women's Basketball Player of the Year. She is also the program's 20th first-team honoree. The 'Eaters have landed a student-athlete on the All-Big West First Team in seven consecutive years.
Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba (Stockholm, Sweden), a graduate transfer from Miami, averaged 11.0 points and 6.9 rebounds, while shooting 42% from the field in Big West games. She had a team-best four double-doubles on the year with three coming against conference opponents. At Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 17, the 6-foot-1 guard/forward finished with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. She also registered 14 points/12 boards vs. CSUN (Feb. 29) and 20 points/12 rebounds at Long Beach State (March 2). In the regular-season finale against Cal State Fullerton, Sidi Baba put up 20 points and nine rebounds. Back in November, she tallied a career-high 21 points in 21 minutes as she went 8-for-16 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 at the free throw line at Texas Tech.
Diaba Konate (Paris, France) secured UCI's fourth Big West Best Defensive Player of the Year award and first since Angie Ned won it back-to-back in 2006 and 2007. Konate played a big role in leading the Anteaters to the 14th-best scoring defense in the nation at 55.5 points allowed per game. She averaged 2.1 steals per outing in conference play. Konate had multiple steals in 11 of 19 league games with a UCI career-high six against Long Beach State on Jan. 25. The 5-foot-7 point guard also ranked first in The Big West in assists (3.7 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65). Konate had nine double-figure scoring games on the year with a season-best 18 points at UC Riverside.
Shirel Nahum (Ra'anana, Israel) ranks among The Big West's top-10 freshmen in scoring (5.5 ppg), rebounding (2.4 rpg), assists (1.1 apg), steals (0.9 spg) and minutes played (20.4 mpg). She reached double figures in scoring six times with a season-best 16 points at New Mexico State. Nahum also had 14 points and a season-high tying seven rebounds at Cal Poly on March 7.
UC Irvine (21-8, 16-4 Big West) secured a top-two Big West finish for the fifth-straight year. The second-seeded Anteaters will open the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Championships in the second semifinal at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15, at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada.
