IRVINE, Calif. — Emerging as the leaders of an Academy of Art University women's basketball squad who started the year with nine new faces, two Urban Knights were among the individuals on this year's All-PacWest Teams in a Wednesday announcement by the Pacific West Conference office. Junior guard
Rodericka Ware was selected to the All-PacWest First Team and junior forward
Helena Orts was named All-PacWest Second Team.
This year, the PacWest coaches or designated representatives from each school selected 33 student-athletes for All-Conference accolades. The squad consisted of a First Team and Second Team featuring six players on each listing, a seven-player Third Team, and 10 honorable mentions. Additionally, individual awards were given to a Player, Freshman, Newcomer, Defender, and Coach of the Year.
In her first year with ART U after two seasons with Central Arizona College, Ware demonstrated her uncanny ability to score the basketball in 2016-17. She finished as the PacWest's third-leading scorer at 17.8 points per game (third-highest single season average in Academy of Art program history), doing so primarily from long range. She ranked tied for second in the conference (31st in NCAA Division II) in three-point field goals made per game (2.7) and offered the third-highest three-point field goal percentage (.344). Beyond her individual offense, Ware also finished tied for first in the PacWest (25th in the country) in steals per game (2.7), fourth in assists per contest (4.0), and ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.1). After tying the program record with eight steals against Dixie State on
Jan. 5, the Lakewood, Wa. native also was awarded
PacWest Defender of the Week.
"Dreek really had a big impact on this team on both ends of the court," said head coach
LaNay Larson. "She stepped into an unexpected position for us with having to run the point and playing a lot minutes in a leadership role. I feel like she learned a lot this year as far as what she is capable of, not only as an offensive threat, but also a defender. She knows that if she consistently performs at her highest level next year that we can be a very dangerous team."
Through her 27 games played, Ware scored in double figures 23 times with a particularly impressive 34 points (one shy of the ART U record) coming against BYU-Hawaii on
Dec. 5. She logged three double-doubles during the year, reaching a career-high 10 rebounds against Azusa Pacific on
Jan. 14 and UH Hilo on
Feb. 23 as well as dishing out a season-best 11 assists with her aforementioned eight steals
versus Dixie State. At Dominican on
Jan. 7, the junior guard put up 14 points in the first quarter, the third-most by an urban Knight in program history, all in just over three minutes with four 3-pointers made. By the end of February, Ware's 74 triples put her third in program history for a single season.
Transferring to Academy of Art after playing two years for Fairfield University, Orts proved to be one of the toughest forwards to handle in the conference this season. She wrapped up 2016-17 ranked third in the conference (second in program single-season history and 31st in NCAA DII) in field goal percentage (.529) as well as fourth in rebounds per game (9.0) and tied for seventh in scoring (15.3 points per game). One of just three players in the conference to put up 3.0+ offensive rebounds per game, her 3.1 average helped her post 13 double-doubles (24th in the country) which were the second-most in ART U single-season history, tying her with
Jasmin Guinn (2015-16). Orts also showed a defensive prowess highlighted by her
PacWest Defender of the Week selection and her 1.7 steals per game (tied for 13th in the PacWest).
"Orts had a great junior season and really grew into her role being a versatile player who can score and guard inside and out," said Larson. "We knew when we brought her in that she had a lot of potential and would be a hard matchup in the league with her size and skills. We look for her to be a great leader heading into next year."
En route to totaling the third-most rebounds for a single season in Academy of Art program history (252), Orts' highlights included a career-high 32 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field against Fresno Pacific on
Jan. 25 followed by a season-high 16 rebounds two weeks later at Notre Dame de Namur on
Feb. 6. Prior to that, the Barcelona, Spain native delivered five double-doubles during the Urban Knights' eight-game win streak (Nov. 26 - Jan. 5). Orts also totaled a career-best seven steals (one shy of the program record) in the victory over Dixie State on
Jan. 5.
These All-PacWest honors are the first in Ware and Orts' respective careers.
