ATLANTA, Ga. — The Women’s Basketball Coach Association announced its regional finalists for the 2023 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America honors, and sophomore guards Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron made the cut.
Miles, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Notre Dame’s regular season finale at Louisville, paces the Irish in three of the five major statistical categories: 7.3 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game. She also averaged 14.3 points every contest. Miles led the ACC in assists per game, and the 6.9 mark is tied for fifth in school history for season assist average (Niele Ivey, 2000-01). Her 14 assists against Merrimack is tied for second in school history for a single game.
Miles has earned a plethora of additional accolades, including AP Second Team All-America honors and First Team All-ACC. She is a finalist for numerous others like the Lieberman Award.
Citron led the Irish in scoring (14.7 ppg), and she is responsible for the two highest single-game scoring outputs this year — 27 points against Louisville on Feb. 26 and 28 points against NC State on March 3. In doing so, she became the first Irish player to post back-to-back games with at least 25 points since Arike Ogunbowale did so in 2018. Her 48.0 percent success rate from the floor this year ranks second in the ACC amongst guards.
The 6-1 shooter from outside of New York City was an All-ACC First Teamer and earned All-American Honorable Mention status from the AP.
With the exception of Columbia’s Abbey Hsu, the Region I finalists all hail from the ACC. Notre Dame, North Carolina and Virginia Tech each put two players on the list. Ogunbowale was the last Irish player to earn the honors, doing so in 2019.
Region 1
|
Player |
Institution |
|
Georgia Amoore |
Virginia Tech |
|
Sonia Citron |
Notre Dame |
|
Dyaisha Fair |
Syracuse |
|
Abbey Hsu |
Columbia |
|
Diamond Johnson |
North Carolina State |
|
Deja Kelly |
North Carolina |
|
Elizabeth Kitley |
Virginia Tech |
|
Ta’Niya Latson |
Florida State |
|
Olivia Miles |
Notre Dame |
|
Celeste Taylor |
Duke |
|
Alyssa Ustby |
North Carolina |
|
Hailey Van Lith |
Louisville
|
Founded in 1981, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit WBCA.org for more details about the association.