Graduate forward Abby Spurgin arrived on the HPU campus this year and promptly led the Sharks in scoring, rebounding and postseason awards.

Spurgin, who came to O'ahu after a standout career at West Texas A&M, was selected by the Pacific West Conference coaches as the 2022-23 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. She also landed on the six-person All-PacWest First Team. 

Spurgin averaged a PacWest best 22.4 points per game and was second in rebounding at 9.3 per contest. She shot 50 percent from the field, and paced the conference with 56 blocked shots. She had a season high of 38 points against Hawai'i Hilo. After missing the playoffs a year ago, Spurgin has the Sharks at the PacWest Tournament this week as the No. 6 seed.

While Spurgin is new to the PacWest scene, Dominican's Brittney Cedeno is not. The fourth-year Penguin standout is the PacWest Defender of the Year and First Team All-PacWest pick. While her all-around numbers are outstanding with 14 points a game, 8.3 rebounds and just over three assists a contest, her numbers of the defensive end of the court are off the charts. The 5-9 guard led all of NCAA Division II with 116 steals, an average of 4.1 per game. Both of those marks are also PacWest single season records.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hawaii Hilo Vulcans Athletics (@hilovulcans)

Cedeno's teammate Keyonee Neal is the Freshman of the Year. Neal and Cedeno helped lead the Penguins to the No. 2 seed in the PacWest Tournament. Neal averaged 12.4 points a game, 4.8 rebounds, had 18 blocked shots and 38 steals.

Azusa Pacific won the PacWest regular season title and head coach TJ Hardeman claimed the Coach of the Year award. The Cougars finished 18-2 in conference play, winning the title by a full three games. They are 23-4 overall. This is Hardeman's 16th season as the APU leader, and it is his seventh PacWest title or co-championship. His career record heading into the PacWest Tournament is 375-116.

Joining Spurgin and Cedeno on the First Team are repeat selections Paige Uyehara of APU and Hawai'i Hilo's Mandi Kawaha. Kawaha became UH Hilo's all-time leader scorer this season (1,485 points) and was second in the PacWest in points (17.8) and assists (3.9 per game). Uyehara, the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year, averaged almost 14 points a game for the Cougars and led the conference in assists with 4.8 per game.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by UH Hilo Women's Basketball (@vulcanwbb)

Academy of Art's Alisha Wilson was a rebounding machine and earned her inaugural First Team selection. The 6-foot-1 track and field All-American tied for the national Division II lead in rebounds per game at 14.8. She had a season best of 23 boards in one contest and three times pulled down 22 in a game. 

Rounding out the First Team is Concordia's Jasmine Rachal. The graduate guard averaged a team-best 16.6 points per game and paced the tournament-bound Golden Eagles in assists with 71. It was Rachal's second selection to the All-PacWest team.

The Second and Third Teams were made up of first-time selections, except for Azusa Pacific's Molly Whitmore, who earned her third All-PacWest award.

*Previous All-PacWest Selection