Air Force receives record number of All-Conference honors

LAS VEGAS – UNLV and New Mexico tied for a league-high five Mountain West Women's Basketball All-Conference honorees, as the MW announced its 2021-22 postseason honors on Sunday, as voted on by the league's 11 head coaches.
 
Air Force head coach Chris Gobrecht earned MW Coach of the Year honors, while UNLV's Desi-Rae Young was selected as Player of the Year. Air Force's Cierra Winters received Defensive Player of the Year recognition. Colorado State's Upe Atosu earned Newcomer of the Year, while UNLV's Nneka Obizor was named MW Sixth Person of the Year. Wyoming's Allyson Fertig was crowned the MW Freshman of the Year.
 
Young helped lead UNLV (23-6, 15-3 MW) to its first outright Conference championship since the league's inception. The sophomore finished MW play, averaging 14.4 points per game and grabbing 9.5 rebounds per game. The Las Vegas native shot 55.2% (101-183) from the field and went 70% (53-75) at the free-throw line. A three-time MW Player of the Week honoree, Young scored in double-figures in 17-of-18 Lady Rebels Conference contests, earning double-doubles in five of the games.
 
Defensive Player of the Year, Winters, finished Conference play averaging an MW-high 2.4 steals per game, while collecting 43 total steals on the 18-game Conference season. The senior's 78 total steals rank 13th in the country, while her 2.7 steals per game are 21st in the nation. Winter's helped Air Force hold Conference opponents to an MW-low 58.4 points per game. The El Paso, Texas, native becomes only the second player (Kaelin Immel, 2017-18) in the program history to earn an individual All-Conference award since the Falcons joined the league in 1999.
 
Atosu's 16.7 points per game in MW play ranks fifth in the league. The senior recorded six 20-point scoring games in Conference play, as she is one of only eight MW players to record a 30-point scoring game this season. The Edo State, Nigeria native finished league action with 300 total points, 52 rebounds and 18 steals.
 
Fertig becomes the first Wyoming women's basketball player in Mountain West history to win Freshman of the Year honors. The Glendo, Wyoming, native earned a league-high five Mountain West Freshman of the Week awards, averaging 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in the Conference season. The freshman finished league play shooting 48.9% (69-141) from the field and 70.8% (34-48) at the charity stripe.
 
Coming off the bench, Obiazor averaged 11.4 points per game in all MW contests, while pulling down 5.7 per contest. The Eden Prairie, Minnesota native, is the second UNLV player to claim MW Sixth Person of the Year honors and first since 2018-19.
 
Seventh-year Air Force head coach Gobrecht, guided the Falcons to a 17-12 overall record and a 11-7 finish in the Mountain West, which is the program's first winning season since becoming Division I in 1996. Under the direction of Gobrecht, Air Force finished the regular season Top 5 in the league's standings and will enter the 2022 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Women's Basketball Championship as the No. 5 seed, earning a bye to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
 
This is the first year multiple Air Force players earned all-conference recognition in a single season.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Desi-Rae Young, So., C, UNLV
 
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cierra Winters, Sr., G, Air Force
 
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Upe Atosu, Sr., G, Colorado State
 
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Allyson Fertig, Fr., C, Wyoming
 
SIXTH PERSON OF THE YEAR
Nneka Obiazor, So., UNLV
 
COACH OF THE YEAR
Chris Gobrecht, Air Force
 
All-CONFERENCE TEAM
Riley Snyder, Sr., F, Air Force
McKenna Hofschild, Jr., G, Colorado State
Haley Cavinder, Jr., G, Fresno State
Da'Ja Hamilton, Sr., G, Nevada
Jaedyn De La Cerda, Sr., G, New Mexico
Shaiquel McGruder, Sr., F, New Mexico
Antonia Anderson, Sr., F, New Mexico
Desi-Rae Young, So., C, UNLV
Essence Booker, Jr., G, UNLV
McKinley Bradshaw, Jr., G, Wyoming
 
HONORABLE MENTION
Upe Atosu, Sr., G, Colorado State
LaTora Duff, Sr., G, New Mexico
Sophia Ramos, Sr., G, San Diego State
Adryanna Quezada, Jr., G/F, Utah State
 
All-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Cierra Winters, Sr., G, Air Force
Alyssa Jimenez, So., G, Nevada
Shaiquel McGruder, Sr., F, New Mexico
Justice Ethridge, Sr., G, UNLV
Desi-Rae Young, So., C, UNLV
Quinn Weidemann, Sr., G, Wyoming
 
All-FRESHMAN TEAM
Audrey Roden, Fr., G, Nevada
Paula Reus, Fr., G, New Mexico
Asia Avinger, Fr., G, San Diego State
Alyssa Durazo-Frescas, Fr., G, UNLV
Allyson Fertig, Fr., C, Wyoming