The Big East conference has now released the winners of the 2026 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Annual Awards, and as expected, UConn dominated the awards with at least one entry in each of the “team” categories. The Big East’s official website has now revealed the winners of each of the major awards.
The biggest haul comes in the First Team selections, as three UConn Huskies players were selected out of the 10 players included. These are guard KK Arnold, senior guard Azzi Fudd and sophomore forward Sarah Strong. The Big East official website noted that voters unanimously chose both Fudd and Strong.
Also named were Creighton’s Ava Zediker,, Marquette’s Skylar Forbes, Marquette’s Hallie Vice, Providence’s Sabou Gueye, Seton Hall’s Savannah Catalon, Seton Hall’s Mariana Valenzuela, and Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe.
For the individual awards, UConn also had a big haul, with Sarah Strong winning the biggest one, BIG EAST Player of the Year, along with BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. Bianca Quinonez won BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and BIG EAST Sixth Woman of the Year while Geno Auriemma won Coach of the Year. Finally, Azzi Fudd won the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The BIG EAST Most Improved Player went to Villanova’s Brynn McCurry, while DePaul’s Meg Newman won the Sportsmanship Award. They were the only two winners of the individual awards that were not from UConn.
UConn Also Has Some Second Team, All Freshmen and Honorable Mentions During Big East WBB Awards
Aside from the individual awards and the First Team awards, the Big East also revealed which players got into the Big East Second Team, their honorable mentions, the All-Defensive Team and the All-Freshman Team.
Blanca Quinonez was named into the Second Team, which had six members this year and not five as usual, as there was a tie in the voting results. She is the only Husky in the Second Team for this season.
Junior guard Ashlynn Shade was an honorable mention, while KK Arnold and Sarah Strong were named into the All-Defensive Team. Finally, Blanca Quinonez received yet another award, this time being named into the Big East All-Freshman Team where she was also a unanimous selection.
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