WASHINGTON – After leading VCU to a program record 26 regular season wins, graduate guard Sarah Te-Biasu secured distinction as the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Player of the Year. George Mason earned two individual accolades as sophomore forward Zahirah Walton was selected as the Rookie of the Year, while senior guard Sonia Smith was named the Most Improved Player. The regular season champion Richmond earned the other three major awards as senior forward Addie Budnik was chosen as the Defensive Player of the Year, sophomore guard Rachel Ullstrom was selected as the Sixth Woman of the Year and Aaron Roussell was voted on by his peers as the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.
The Atlantic 10 released the six superlative honors along with the All-Conference, All-Defensive, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams Tuesday prior to the 2024 A-10 Women’s Basketball Championship first round, which tips off Wednesday at Henrico Sports & Events Center in Henrico, Va. The major awards, All-Conference teams, All-Defensive team and All-Rookie team were voted on by the 15 A-10 women’s basketball head coaches while the All-Academic team was selected by the women’s basketball communications directors.
The first ever VCU player to be named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, Te-Biasu led the Rams with 15.6 points per game overall and averaged 17.3 points per game in conference play. She also averaged 2.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds during A-10 play. The Montreal, Canada, native ranked 33rd nationally in 3-pointers made per game (2.5), 65th in 3-point percentage (37.7 percent) and 35th in free throw percentage (86.0). Te-Biasu was a two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Week and was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 Third Team selection, earning the honors each of the past two seasons.
Budnik has been a force on the defensive end all season, leading the Atlantic 10 and standing seventh nationally with 78 blocks, averaging 2.58 per game. The Highland Park, Ill. native has multiple blocks in 21 of 31 games this season and three-plus blocks in 15, including a career-high six in wins at Rhode Island and Saint Louis and five at Davidson and against Loyola Chicago. The senior is averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 rebounds while tallying 20 steals on the season. This is Budnik's second major award as she was named the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year.
A league-best six-time Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week this season, Walton matched the George Mason record for All-Rookie honors in a season. The forward anchored a Mason bench which sat in the top-five nationally for bench points per game throughout the entire 2023-24 season. She was the only Patriot with multiple double-doubles on the season, and leads the Patriots and all Atlantic 10 rookies with 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. The Seattle, Wash., native is second on the Patriots with 11.1 points (11.5 points against conference opponents) and 1.4 steals per game. The rookie is also in the top-25 in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage (.439) and free throw percentage (.766).
Ullstrom saw action in all 31 games for the A-10 champion Spiders, coming off the bench in each contest en route to becoming the third leading scorer for the Spiders, averaging 11.9 ppg. The Auburn, Mass. native leads the A-10 and is ninth nationally in three-point percentage (44.5%). The sophomore posted a career-high nine rebounds vs Dayton (1/20/24), a career-high four thefts and two blocks against George Washington on 2/11/24 and also matched a career-high 26 points against UMass on 1/10/24. She has posted four games with 20+ points and had 19 double-digit games.
Smith emerged as George Mason’s top offensive player this season, averaging a team-high 14.9 points per game and leading Mason in scoring all year, an improvement of over 3.5 points per game last season. The Upper Marlboro, Md., native also averaged 3.3 rebounds per game (+1.0 from 2022-23), 3.0 assists per game (+0.5 from 2022-23), shot 40.7% from the field (+4.4 percent from 2022-23) and shot 32.6 percent from 3-point range (+5.9 percent from 2022-23). The graduate student set career-highs in field goals made, 3-pointers made, total rebounds and total points in a season in 2023-24. Smith scored in double-figures in all but four games this season and registered seven 20-plus scoring performances, including a career-high 30 points at Duquesne. Also a First Team All-Conference selection, Smith ranked in the top-10 of the conference in scoring all year in both overall points per game and points per game against conference opponents.
Roussell led Richmond to a 26-5 regular season record with a 16-2 conference record to notch the program’s first A-10 regular season title, and the first in any league since the 1990-91 season in the CAA. He has tied the program record for most wins in a season (26) and also slotted himself to No. 4 in all-time wins at Richmond with 90 while reaching 400 career wins this year. Under Roussell’s tutelage, the Spiders went undefeated at home for the first time in the NCAA era as well as sitting sixth-nationally in blocks per game (5.8), fourth nationally in free throw percentage (80.3%), 11th in three point percentage (37.8%) and 10th in three pointers per game (9.2).
Joining Smith and Te-Biasu on the All-Conference First Team are Duquesne junior guard Megan McConnell, a pair of Spiders, sophomore forward Maggie Doogan and senior guard Grace Townsend and Saint Joseph’s sophomore forward Laura Ziegler.
The All-Conference Second Team features Budnik along with Fordham senior guard Taylor Donaldson, Rhode Island senior forward Mayé Touré, Saint Joseph’s junior forwards Talya Brugler and Mackenzie Smith and Saint Louis graduate guard Kyla McMakin.
Walton headlines the All-Conference Third Team along with two Davidson honorees, sophomore guard Charlise Dunn and redshirt senior forward Elle Sutphin, George Washington sophomore guard Nya Robertson, Loyola Chicago graduate guard Sam Galanopoulos and VCU sophomore guard Timaya Lewis-Eutsey.
The All-Defensive team showcases Budnik, McConnell and Ziegler in addition to Saint Louis junior guard Kennedy Calhoun and graduate guard Julia Martinez as well as VCU graduate forward Mykel Parham.
Walton also headlines to the All-Rookie team along with her teammate George Mason guard Kennedy Harris and La Salle guard Nicole Melious, Massachusetts forward/center Lilly Taulelei and VCU forward Lucía Sotelo.
The All-Academic team includes McConnell, Townsend, Brugler, Parham and Rhode Island junior guard Sophie Phillips.
The 2024 Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship launches with first round contests Wednesday between No. 12 La Salle and No. 13 Massachusetts at noon followed by No. 11 Dayton and No. 14 St. Bonaventure at 2:30 p.m. The semifinal round tips off Saturday and will air nationally via CBS Sports Network while the championship final wraps up the five-day tournament Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET with national broadcast via ESPN2. The first round on Wednesday, second round on Thursday and quarterfinals on Friday will stream all 10 contests live on ESPN+.