Kennedy Cambridge Named to Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Late-Season Team

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the 2026 Naismith Women's College Defensive Player of the Year Presented by MOLECULE Late-Season Team on Thursday. Redshirt junior Kennedy Cambridge was one of 15 players named to the list and one of three players from the Big Ten.

Cambridge has consistently led the Big Ten and stayed among the top five in the nation with 4.0 steals per game this season. She averages 1.5 steals per game more than any other player in the Big Ten this season. Cambridge currently owns 115 steals this season, a career-high and tied with the single season program record. She is just the second Buckeye to ever record 100 or more steals in a season, doing so on Feb. 8 at Oregon.

Cambridge recorded a career-high 10 steals on Dec. 11, becoming the sixth Buckeye in program history to total 10 or more steals in a single game and the second in the last two decades. The 10 steals in a game ties for the third-most by a player in program history and is just one shy of the single-game record. She also reached 100 career steals on Dec. 7. Despite being in only her second season at Ohio State, Cambridge has amassed 160 steals in the Scarlet & Gray to tie for 18^th in program history.

This season, Cambridge has recorded at least one steal in all 29 games and totaled three or more in 23 games. She also owns the second-most blocks on the team (21).

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