The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women’s Basketball’s Harmon named Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year
10.04.2023 | Women's Basketball
Five Longhorns earn Big 12 preseason honors. Madison Booker selected Preseason Freshman of the Year.
AUSTIN, Texas — Five University of Texas Women's Basketball student-athletes earned Big 12 Conference preseason honors as the league announced the All-Big 12 Team and individual awards on Wednesday. The honors are voted on by the league's coaches, who cannot vote for their own student-athletes.
Rori Harmon was selected the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year and a unanimous selection on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. Madison Booker was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year. DeYona Gaston earned a place om the All-Big 12 Team and Shaylee Gonzales and Aaliyah Moore were selected as Honorable Mention Preseason All-Big 12.
Harmon, the 2023 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team honoree and All-Big 12 Defensive Team selection ranked fourth in the country in assists per game in the 2022-23 season. Harmon averaged 7.4 assists per game to set a new Texas single season record, breaking the previous record of 7.3 set in the 1984-85 season by Kamie Ethridge. Harmon finished the season with 228 assists, the third most in program history for a single season. Harmon missed the first five games of the 2022-23 season due to injury. Harmon and Caitlin Clark are the only two players in NCAA DI women's basketball in the 2022-23 season that average at least 11.2 points, 7.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.
DeYona Gaston earned All-Big 12 First Team honors in the 2023-24 season. Gaston was named the Big 12 Player of the Week following a week where she scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a win over Alabama State. Gaston increased her point total from 7.1 to 12.1 from the 2021-22 season to the 2022-23 season. Gaston scored 24 points in a road win over Kansas.
Madison Booker, a Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year, was ranked the No. 12 player in her class and is a three-time gold medalist with USA Basketball. Most recently, Booker won gold at the U19 World Cup in Spain this past summer. Booker, a native of Ridgeland, Miss., is a McDonald's All-American and Naismith High School All-American. Booker led her Germantown high school team to the 2023 6A State Championship with 26 points and 12 rebounds in the championship game.
Shaylee Gonzales was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2023 and a USBWA National Player of the Week. Gonzales passed 2,000 career points in the collegiate career in the 2022-23 season. Gonzales was an 2021-22 All-American and 2021-22 Naismith Midseason Team selection. Gonzales led the Longhorns in scoring in the 2022-23 season and scored 20 or more points in six games.
Aaliyah Moore had her 2022-23 season cut short with an ACL injury in the ninth game of the season and was averaging 11.2 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. She scored in double figures in seven of the nine games she played and recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Marquette. Prior to the season she competed with USA Basketball and was part of the team that won the U23 FIBA Americas Nations League Championship in 3 on 3.
The UT women's basketball team hosts the Orange-White Scrimmage on Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. at Moody Center and the season tips off on Nov. 8.
Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year
Rori Harmon, Texas
Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Jada Walker, Baylor
Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year
Madison Booker, Texas
2023-24 Preseason All-Big 12 Team
Sarah Andrews, Baylor*
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Baylor
Emily Ryan, Iowa State
Zakiyah Franklin, Kansas
Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas*
Gabby Gregory, Kansas State*
Ayoka Lee, Kansas State
Skylar Vann, Oklahoma
DeYona Gaston, Texas
Rori Harmon, Texas*
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
(A tie resulted in 11 members on the preseason team)
*- unanimous selection
Honorable Mention Preseason All-Big 12: Lauren Gustin (BYU), Holly Kersgieter (Kansas), Serena Sundell (K-State), Lior Garzon (Oklahoma State), Sedona Prince (TCU), Shaylee Gonzales (Texas), Aaliyah Moore (Texas), Bailey Maupin (Texas Tech)
