Heal Named WCC Newcomer of the Year, Hudgins named All-Freshman

Posted: Mar 01, 2023

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Santa Clara University women's basketball freshman guard Tess Heal became the program's first West Coast Conference major individual award winner in 17 years Wednesday when the annual all-conference awards were announced, with Heal being named the 2022-23 WCC Newcomer of the Year, along with a host of other accolades.

Heal earned the conference's Newcomer of the Year award after setting a record with 12 WCC Freshman of the Week honors during the season. The WCC doesn't have a Freshman of the Year award. She also landed on the all-WCC first team, and was named to the WCC all-freshman team. Classmate Marya Hudgins was also named to the WCC all-freshman team. Heal's WCC major award is the first for the Broncos since Michelle Cozad won WCC Player of the Year in 2005-06, and former head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson was named WCC Coach of the Year that same season.

In her first year of college basketball, Heal ranks third in the WCC in scoring (17.2 points per game) and fifth in assists per game (4.1). She's posted 10 20-point scoring games this year, including a 39-point performance versus BYU on Feb. 16 – second-most ever in a single game at Santa Clara. She's scored 533 total points on the year – eighth on the Santa Clara single-season top-10 list. Her 134 made free throws are fifth all-time, and her 17.2 ppg are currently 10th all-time in a single season.

Q4, 0:12 | @byuwbb 76, #Broncos 72

Tess Heal with a 3️⃣ pointer!

Tess Heal with a season-high of 39 points. #StampedeTogether | #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/J85SyHIkjr
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) February 17, 2023

Heal hasn't just been one of the best newcomers in the WCC, one of the best players in the WCC this season… she's been one of the best freshmen in the nation all year long. Her 17.2 ppg rank fifth among all freshmen in the country (through Tuesday), and her 533 points are second. She's also distributed the ball when she's not scoring it, with her 4.1 assists per game tied for fifth among the nation's freshmen.

Hudgins also earned herself a WCC Freshman of the Week nod on Jan. 16 after shining in the first two starts of her career. Hudgins averaged 16.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game during the week of Jan. 9-15 in two WCC home games. She led all players on Jan. 12 against Pacific with a season-high 21 points in the Broncos' 14-point win. On Jan. 14, she scored 11 points, had five rebounds, two steals and two blocks against Saint Mary's in the first start of her career. She also hit three 3-pointers in that game.

HALF | #Broncos 42, @USFDonsWBB 33

Marya Hudgins beats the buzzer to send Santa Clara into the locker room! ��#StampedeTogether | #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/7L4hdZmGyk
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) December 31, 2022

Hudgins has played in all 31 of the Broncos' games during her first year with 11 starts. She's averaged 7.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while collecting 26 assists, 23 steals and 21 blocks.

Heal, Hudgins and the Broncos next travel to the 2023 UCU WCC Basketball Tournament starting Thursday. The Broncos will be the No. 8 seed and face No. 9 seed Pepperdine in the first round of the tournament at noon on Thursday. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.

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