Phelia Earns All-Big Ten First-Team Honors
3/5/2024 12:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Junior Laila Phelia of the University of Michigan women's basketball team earned All-Big Ten first-team honors by both the coaches and the media as announced by the conference on Tuesday (March 5). Lauren Hansen earned honorable mention by both the coaches and media, with Cameron Williams earning Michigan's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Phelia earned first-team honors for the first time in her career after grabbing a spot on the second team last year. She is the eighth different Wolverine to earn first-team honors by the coaches in program history, with her selection marking the ninth straight season a Wolverine has been named to the first team. Phelia started 29 games this season, averaging 16.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. In Big Ten games, she upped her scoring to 17.2 points per game on 46.2 percent shooting while leading the league in minutes played at 36.6 per game. She topped the 1,000-point mark for her career this season, scoring in double figures in all but four games. Phelia has been recognized by the conference in each of her three seasons, earning all-freshman honors in 2022 and second-team honors last year.
Hansen earned honorable mention status from both the coaches and the media after starting all 30 games at point guard. For the season, Hansen averaged 11.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 28.1 minutes per game. She scored in double figures 20 times, while ranking second on the team in both total assists (63) and steals (38).
Williams was the recipient of Michigan's Sportsmanship Award after appearing in all 30 games. A starter in 15 contests, Williams averaged 7.2 points and a team-high 4.8 rebounds per game. She has scored in double figures nine times, with seven of those outings coming in conference action. Williams recorded a pair of double-doubles on the season and is coming off an 18-point performance against Purdue (March 3).
Michigan (18-12) is the No. 6 seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and will face either Minnesota or Rutgers on Thursday (March 7) in the second round at approximately 8 p.m. CST at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
