McMahon Earns Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Five Named All-Big Ten
2/28/2023 2:07:04 PM | Women's Basketball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Big Ten Conference announced its 2022-23 end of season women’s basketball awards on Tuesday, prior to the start of the Big Ten Tournament. Freshman forward Cotie McMahon was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and to the All-Big Ten Freshman team by both the league’s coaches and media, with the coaches unanimously selecting her for the all-freshman team.
Both the coaches and media named senior guard Taylor Mikesell to the All-Big Ten First Team and sophomore guard/forward Taylor Thierry and McMahon to the All-Big Ten Second Team. The Big Ten coaches also selected Thierry for the all-defensive team, while the media gave redshirt junior guard Rikki Harris and senior forward Rebeka Mikulášiková an honorable mention. Thierry was also Ohio State’s Sportsmanship Award Honoree.
McMahon is the 10th player in Ohio State women’s basketball history to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the first since Kelsey Mitchell in 2015. McMahon tied Mitchell’s program record with six Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolades and made history as the first Buckeye to ever be named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for four-consecutive weeks. This season, McMahon is averaging 14.0 points (18th in the Big Ten), 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game, including 19 games in double figures and a team-high 11 games with 20 or more points. She scored a career-high 30 points on Dec. 20 in the overtime win against South Florida. McMahon’s .517 field goal percentage is seventh in the conference. She’s increased her production to 15.0 points (13th in Big Ten), 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists and is tied for the eighth in the conference with 0.9 blocks per game against Big Ten opponents.
Mikesell leads the Ohio State offense this season with 17.3 points per game (eighth in Big Ten) and three-point shooting (3.2 per game is second in conference), also ranking second on the team with 2.6 assists per game. Mikesell surpassed 2,000 career points this season and 1,000 points as a Buckeye. Her 93 three-pointers ranks seventh among single-season program records and her Buckeye career total to 207, ranking sixth all-time despite being in Columbus for just two seasons. Mikesell consistently leads the Buckeyes on the court as she has 27 games in double figures this season, eight 20-point games, including a pair with 30+ points. Mikesell is on the watch list for the Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award, Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award and Wade Award. She was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Jan. 9 and earned a spot on the weekly honor roll on Dec. 5.
Thierry has enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign, averaging 13.7 points (23rd in Big Ten) per game and leads Ohio State in field goal percentage (.628, third in conference), 6.7 rebounds per game (11th in Big Ten) and 2.0 steals per game (sixth in Big Ten). She also averages 2.3 assists per game and is 15th in the Big Ten with 0.8 blocks per game. Thierry has elevated her game to 14.4 points (15th in Big Ten) and 7.4 rebounds (eighth in Big Ten) per game during conference play, also ranking top-10 in the league in blocks and steals against Big Ten opponents. Thierry has scored in double figures 22 times this season, has surpassed the 20-point plateau on five occasions and earned her first career double-double. She was named to the Big Ten weekly honor roll for the first two times in her career on Dec. 12 and Dec. 27.
Harris stepped into a starting role and assumed the responsibility of running the offense midway through the season and is averaging 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.6 steals (17th in Big Ten) and a team-high 3.4 assists (12th in Big Ten) per game. She also ranks fifth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.3) overall and fourth when playing against Big Ten opponents. Harris has stepped her game during conference play to average 8.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals (12th in Big Ten) and a team-high 3.9 assists (11th in Big Ten) per game. Harris has scored in double figures on five occasions and twice scored a career-high, first 19 points on Jan. 5 at Minnesota and most recently 23 points on Feb. 20 at Michigan (shooting 7-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from deep).
Mikulášiková is averaging a career-best 11.9 points per game this season, also averaging 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. She is second on the team with a career-high 39 three-pointers made, also recording career-highs in assists (46) and steals (20). Mikulášiková has scored in double figures 14 times this season, has 20+ points on six occasions and scored a career-high 31 points at Rutgers on Dec. 4. She also earned her fourth career double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds at Boston College on Nov. 13. She was named to the Big Ten weekly honor roll three times this season – Nov. 14, Nov. 28 and Jan. 17.
No. 14/13 Ohio State (23-6, 12-6 B1G) earned the #4 seed and will play the winner of #5 Michigan vs. #12 Minnesota/#13 Penn State on Friday, 25 minutes following the conclusion of the first game of the day at 12:30 p.m. ET. All games before the finals will be broadcast on BTN and the FOX Sports app. The Big Ten Championship game will be broadcast on ESPN and the ESPN app. More information about the 2023 Big Ten Tournament can be found HERE.
Ohio State women’s basketball season tickets for the 2023-24 season are now on sale and can be purchased HERE. Fans with ticketing questions should call the Ohio State Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-BUCKS or email athletic.tix@osu.edu.
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