Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu wins Wade Trophy for 2nd time

Oregon guard Sabrina Ionescu has won the Wade Trophy and is one of 10 All-Americans — along with Ducks teammates Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally — selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced Thursday.

The Wade Trophy, which dates back to 1978, is presented by the WBCA to the top women’s basketball player among sophomores, juniors and seniors in Division I and is named after Lily Margaret Wade, who coached Delta State to three AIAW titles in the 1970s. Freshmen are not eligible for the award; the WBCA’s freshman of the year honor went to South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston on Wednesday.

Ionescu, who also won last year, is the sixth player to be a Wade honoree more than once, joining two-time winners Nancy Lieberman (Old Dominion), Seimone Augustus (LSU), Brittney Griner (Baylor) and Breanna Stewart (UConn) and three-time winner Maya Moore (UConn).

Ionescu, who this season became the first player in women’s or men’s basketball to hit the 2,000-point/1,000-rebound/1,000-assist mark, also was the espnW and Associated Press national player of the year. She is finalist for the Wooden Award and Naismith Award.

The WBCA All-American team dates back to the 1974-75 season, and Ionescu has made it for the third time. She was the only junior on last year’s team; this year juniors make up half the squad.

The five juniors are: Oregon’s Sabally, Texas A&M’s Chennedy Carter, Louisville’s Dana Evans, Arizona’s Aari McDonald and UConn’s Megan Walker. All are eligible for April’s WNBA draft; Carter, Sabally and Walker have declared for it, while Evans and McDonald have announced they are staying for their senior seasons.

The other WBCA All-Americans are seniors: Oregon’s Ionescu and Hebard, Baylor’s Lauren Cox, Iowa’s Kathleen Doyle and South Carolina’s Tyasha Harris.