COLONIA, N.J. – On Thursday, March 6 the East Coast Conference announced the 2024-2025 Women's Basketball All-Conference honorees, and Queens College sophomore forward
Nkiru Awaka (Hyde Park, N.Y.) was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year honors as voted by the league's nine head coaches.
To cap off a stellar year the Hyde Park native would also earn All-ECC First Team to her list of accomplishments.
After earning ECC Rookie of the Year and All-ECC Third Team honors last season the sophomore adds two more top honors to Knights' career.
Awaka is the third women's basketball player in program history to earn Defensive Player of the Year and the first Knight since the 2016-2017 season when senior MacKenzie Rowland took home top defensive honors.
The sophomore would show there would be no sophomore slump as she recorded a career-best year having appeared and started in 25 games averaging 31.0 minutes per game, 13.6 points per game, and team-highs in 11.2 rebounds per game to go with 6.6 offensive boards per game and 4.7 defensive per game. Also, she would average 2.2 steals per game, and 1.4 blocks per game to go with 12 double-doubles.
Among the ECC Awaka finished the regular season:
- First in rebounding
- First in offensive rebounding
- First in field goal percentage
- Third in steals
- Fifth in scoring
- Sixth in blocks
- Seventh in free throw percentage
- 10th in defensive rebounding
- 13th in minutes played.
The sophomore was one of five ECC players to record a 30-point performance game, and the lone player to record a 20-rebound performance this year. She would lead the ECC with 15 10-rebound games.
During the 16-week regular season, Awaka would earn a spot on the weekly award sheet a team-high 11 times including ECC Player of the Week on three occasions and Defensive Player of the Week on four occasions.
Awaka would record new career-best over the course of the year in several different categories
- Points - 30 points vs. Roberts Wesleyan (2/7/25)
- Rebounds – 23 vs. Roberts Wesleyan (2/7/25)
- Assists – 3 (Tied a career-best)
- Steals – 7 vs. Post (12/16/24)
- Blocks – 5 (2x)
- Free Throws Made – 8 (2x)
- Free Throws Attempts – 12 (Tied a career-best)
- Double-Doubles – 12
Awaka will enter her junior year having started and appeared in 52 career games recording 672 total points, 518 rebounds, 100 steals, 50 blocks, and 49 assists.
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