2016-17 All-Big West Conference Women's Basketball Teams

DAVIS, Calif. -- After leading her team to the Big West Conference regular season title for the second time in the history of the program, UC Davis sixth-year head coach Jennifer Gross was named the Big West Conference Coach of the Year, while four of her student-athletes earned all-conference honors as voted on by the league's head coaches and announced by the conference office on Monday morning.

Sophomore forward Morgan Bertsch and junior forward Pele Gianotti were named to the All-Big West first team for the Aggies -- the first time that UC Davis has had a pair on the first team in the same season since the 2011-12 campaign when Paige Mintun and Samantha Meggison were honored -- while junior guard Dani Nafekh earned second-team laurels, and newcomer Nina Bessolo was named to the All-Freshman Team.

With Bertsch and Gianotti's awards, the Aggies are the only program to have at least one first-team honoree since joining the Big West in 2007-08. Bessolo's nod to the freshman team also marked the third consecutive year -- and the seventh time overall -- that UC Davis has had one of the league's top freshmen, joining Nafekh (2014-15) and Bertsch (2015-16).

In leading UC Davis to a 23-6 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the Big West, Gross was named the conference's top coach for the first time since taking over the program in 2011-12, claiming career victory No. 100 on March 2 at UC Riverside to help the Aggies to a share of the league crown before winning the title outright two days later with a victory at CSUN. The 23 overall wins are the second-most in the program's Division I history, trailing only the 24-9 record set by the 2010-11 squad, while the 14 Big West wins are a record.

Gross joins former head coach Sandy Simpson in the annals as Big West Coaches of the Year, as Simpson was twice named the league's top coach in 2007-08 and 2009-10.

After earning second-team and all-freshman honors last season, Bertsch collected first-team laurels for the first time in her career, leading the Aggies in scoring at 16.5 points per game and shooting 53 percent from the floor while averaging 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. She has reached double figures in 27 of the team's 29 games during the regular season, including eight games of 20-or-more points and tying a career-high with 27 points at UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4.

Gianotti, an honorable mention selection as a sophomore last season, jumped all the way up to the first team following a stellar junior year, ranking third on the team in scoring at 11.3 ppg while leading the team in rebounding at 5.9 per game. She shot 46 percent from the field during the regular season and just over 39 percent from beyond the arc, while also averaging 2.4 assists per game and leading the Aggies from the line at 82 percent, missing only 11 times all year.

Nafekh, who was also named UC Davis' Big West Female Scholar Athlete of the Year on March 3, earned her first career all-conference honor with her selection to the second team on Monday, fresh off a 19-point performance that helped UC Davis clinch the league's regular season title outright at CSUN on Saturday. Nafekh finished second on the team in scoring at 11.6 ppg and assists at 2.93 apg, while shooting 49 percent from both the floor and from beyond the arc to rank among the league leaders in both categories at the end of the regular season.

Bessolo appeared in 28 of the team's 29 games off the bench, averaging 4.6 ppg and 2.7 rpg while shooting 39 percent from the floor. She finished in double figures four times, including a career-high 16 points against Holy Names on Nov. 13 and 12 more at Cal State Fullerton on 5-of-6 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers.

With the top seed and a double-bye into the semifinals of this year's Big West Tournament, the Aggies will take a 10-game winning streak into Friday's first semifinal (March 10) at Noon against the lowest remaining seed at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. As the conference's regular season champion, UC Davis has also clinched an automatic berth into this year's WNIT, marking the fifth time in 10 Division I seasons that it will compete in the postseason and the first since a WNIT berth in 2012.

2016-17 ALL-BIG WEST CONFERENCE HONOR ROLL
First Team
Hannah Gilbert, Sr., F, Cal Poly
Channon Fluker, So., C, CSUN
Anna Kim, Sr., G, Long Beach State
Morgan Bertsch, So., F, UC Davis
Pele Gianotti, Jr., F, UC Davis
Sarah Toeaina, Jr., G, Hawai'i

Second Team
Lynn Leaupepe, Jr., G, Cal Poly
Serafina Maulupe, Jr., G, CSUN
Raven Benton, Sr., G, Long Beach State
Dani Nafekh, Jr., G, UC Davis
Drew Edelman, Jr., F, UC Santa Barbara

Honorable Mention
Dynn Leaupepe, Jr., G, Cal Poly
Daeja Smith, So., C, Cal State Fullerton
Madison Montgomery, Sr., F, Long Beach State
Jewelyn Sawyer, Sr., G/F, Long Beach State
Andee Ritter, So., G, UC Irvine
Michelle Curry, Jr., G, UC Riverside
Simone DeCoud, Sr., G, UC Riverside
Lauren Holt, Jr., G, UC Riverside
Drea Toler, Jr., G, UC Santa Barbara

All-Freshman Team
Eliza Matthews, F, CSUN
Nina Bessolo, F, UC Davis
Brooke Bayman, G, UC Irvine
Skyler Lewis, F, UC Riverside
Julissa Tago, G, Hawai'i

Player of the Year: Channon Fluker, CSUN
Freshman of the Year: Eliza Matthews, CSUN
Coach of the Year: Jennifer Gross, UC Davis

Best Sixth Player: Raven Benton, Long Beach State
Best Defensive Player: Jewelyn Sawyer, Long Beach State
Best Hustle Player: Anna Kim, Long Beach State