Serizawa, Jue headline women's basketball postseason awards
ORANGE, Calif. – Freshman Katelyn Serizawa was selected as the Newcomer of the Year, head coach Carol Jue as the Coach of the Year to headline the All-SCIAC women's basketball awards. In all the Chapman University women's basketball team had five players honored in the postseason awards.
Senior Natalia Ebrahimian joined Serizawa and Jue as a major award winner as she was honored with the Ed Balwin Award in addition to earning All-SCIAC second team honors. Junior Megan Charles was selected to the All-SCIAC first team while junior Lauren Sato and sophomore Jaime Hum-Nishikado joined Ebrahimian on the Second Team
After a slow start to the season, Jue had Chapman rolling during the SCIAC season to earn her first Coach of the Year honors while guiding the Panthers to a 14-2 SCIAC record. Chapman won its last 10 regular season games, which was its second winning streak of eight-plus games this season. This is Jue's first SCIAC Coach of the Year award but her fourth Coach of the Year award in her already distinguished career. She was honored three times previously as the Association of Division III Independents Coach of the Year prior to Chapman joining the SCIAC. She has accumulated 250 wins at Chapman in her 13th at the helm for the Panthers.
Serizawa became Chapman's second Newcomer of the Year selection, joining Sandra Gao form the 2012-13 season. The freshman immediately took over as the starting point guard and started in all but one game this year. The freshman from Torrance led the team and the SCIAC with 4.4 assists per game in conference play. Her 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio also ranked 12th in the nation. She averaged 6.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and two steals during the conference season. While she only got to the line an average of once per game, Serizawa knocked down 14-of-15 free throws against SCIAC opponents.
Charles, a junior from Tarzana, flourished in her first year in the starting lineup. The guard led the Panthers and ranked second in the SCIAC with 14.4 points per gamer during the conference season. She was a 40.8 percent shooter while also averaging 2.6 rebounds and two steals per game. Charles scored in double figures in 13 of the 16 SCIAC games and reached 20 points three times.
Sato earned her second career honors as a Second Teamer after earning a spot on the First Team as a sophomore. The guard from Torrance ranked second on the team with two assists per game and was fourth with 10.6 points per game. She started in every game while swiping two steals per game and dishing out an average of two assists.
Ebrahimian pulled down a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game while starting every game in the post. Her 12.1 points per game ranked second on the team and her 49.7 percent shooting ranked fourth in the SCIAC. The forward from Santa Cruz logged six double-doubles this season with four coming in SCIAC games.
Hum-Nishikado was the only non-starter to earn postseason honors with a spot on the All-SCIAC second team. The guard from San Rafael shattered Chapman's school record for three-pointers in a season with 76 made threes this season, breaking the mark of 63 made by Missy Bynon in 2000-01. She ranked 11th in the country in that category while sinking 35.7 percent of her long-range shots and led the SCIAC. While playing in all 26 games this year, Hum-Nishikado came off the bench in each one , sinking at least six three-pointers five times and draining a career-best seven in the season finale at Caltech.
The Panthers fell in the semifinals of the SCIAC Tournament to finish with a 19-7 overall record. They lose just three seniors – two of them starters – from this year's squad.
by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director
Become a fan of Chapman Athletics on Facebook
Follow Chapman Athletics on Twitter @ChapmanSports
Post your #PantherPic to Instagram @ChapmanSports
#Chaptown