Penn women's basketball sweeps Big 5 postseason honors

If sweeping the Ivy League’s postseason awards wasn’t enough, taking home some Big 5 hardware will suit Penn women’s basketball just fine.

Senior captain Alyssa Baron added to her resume by being named Big 5 Player of the Year while placing on the first team All-Big 5 squad for the fourth consecutive year. Meanwhile, freshman center Sydney Stipanovich was named Big 5 Rookie of the Year and coach Mike McLaughlin was named Big 5 Coach of the Year. Junior forward Kara Bonenberger was also named second team All-Big 5.

Baron also finished her Penn career with the Ivy Player of the Year award, leading the Quakers in scoring for the fourth straight year at 14.9 points per game. In addition, she averaged 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

Baron finished her career with 1,806 career points, the second most in Penn history, after a 25-point effort in the Quakers NCAA Tournament defeat vs. Texas on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Stipanovich received the first Big 5 honor of her career after a startling 99 blocks on the season, surpassing Penn’s previous record by 26 blocks. It was the second highest total in Ivy history.

She also averaged 12.0 points per game while leading the Quakers with 8.3 rebounds per contest. After beginning the year on the bench, she started Penn’s last 15 games with the Red and Blue going 13-2.

The man who placed her in the starting lineup also received some recognition for Penn’s solid season, as McLaughlin became Penn’s first coach to take home Big 5 Coach of the Year honors. The Quakers had the best season in McLaughlin’s time at Penn, overtaking Princeton for the Ivy title. In each of McLaughlin’s five seasons at Penn, the Quakers have improved their win total, going from two wins in 2009-10 to 22 wins this year.

Bonenberger has been part of the last three teams — starting all 29 games this year — and will join Stipanovich as a major part of next year’s team.