Maryland women’s basketball earns six Big Ten season honors, most in program history

No. 6 Maryland women’s basketball had six players honored with Big Ten yearly awards Monday — the most conference honors for the program in any single season.

Freshman point guard Ashley Owusu led the way, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year after averaging 11.6 points and 5.2 assists per game this season. Owusu, who has the second-most assists (150) of any freshman in the nation, is the second straight Terp to win this award after Taylor Mikesell took it home last season.

Senior Kaila Charles, who led Maryland with 15 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, was named an unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection for the second season in a row. She ranks eighth in the conference in scoring and rebounding, in addition to possessing the third-best shooting percentage (50.8 percent) and third-most offensive rebounds per contest (3.7).

The Terps benefited from dominant post play this season, which also landed senior Stephanie Jones and sophomore Shakira Austin on the All-Big Ten Second Team by both the coaches and media. Jones averaged 11.1 points per game on an impressive 60.8 percent shooting clip, along with 5.6 rebounds per contest. Austin finished the season second in two categories for Maryland, as she averaged 12.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

Owusu was tabbed to the second team by the media, but earned honorable mentions from the head coaches and was the leader of the All-Freshman team.

Senior Blair Watson was recognized for her strong defensive season, landing on the All-Big Ten Defensive team, while Mikesell landed as an honorable mention. Watson averaged 2.93 steals per game, while Mikesell shot 43.2 percent from three-point range — up 2.1 percent from her award-winning freshman season.

Jones was also the recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, given to one player from each program at the end of the season.

Maryland was able to use this strong all-around play to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament.

The Terps will open up their postseason Friday at noon, as they face the winner of No. 8 Michigan State and No. 9 Purdue.