Shaina Pellington leads UA with multiple Pac-12 accolades; 3 other Wildcats also honored

It was a great start to the postseason for Arizona as multiple Wildcats earned All-Pac-12 honors from the league’s coaches. The media awards will be announced Wednesday morning.

Four Wildcats — Shaina Pellington, Helena Pueyo, Cate Reese and Esmery Martinez — received accolades heading into this week’s Pac-12 Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Las Vegas. No 4 seed Arizona will play the winner of the UCLA-Arizona State matchup at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Pellington was named co-Most Improved Player of the Year, along with former-Wildcat-turned-Colorado Buffalo Aaronette Vonleh. Pellington also landed on the All-Pac-12 and All-Pac-12 defensive teams. All of the honors were firsts for the senior.

Pellington leads the Wildcats in scoring with 13.4 points per game, up from 11.3 last season. She is shooting at a 54% clip compared to 44% last year. The senior has scored more than 1,500 points in her career and a few weeks ago received national recognition — from ESPNW and Starting 5 — for her performance leading UA to an upset over then-No. 4 Utah : 35 points, eight rebounds and five steals.

Pellington followed that up with 19 points, five assists and two blocks as UA beat Colorado for the weekend sweep. She also earned the first weekly league honor of her UA career as she was named Pac-12 Player of the Week. Pellington has a UA-career high 51 steals this season.

Pellington’s growth has shown on and off the court.

In a recent interview with the Star, Pellington said her biggest area of growth was “not being my own worst enemy. I think a lot of the times when I get down on myself, when I’m not doing well, I can shoot myself in the foot. For me, it’s just being conscious of, ‘Why am I down on myself?’ And when I’m down on myself, correcting that so that it doesn’t affect me for the entirety of the game. I think in that area I have grown a lot, just recognizing that, believing in myself, trusting the process and the work that I’ve put in to get to this point. Going back to my natural abilities, knowing what I’m good at, and knowing when to use those strengths and when not to.”

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Pueyo also made the All-Defensive Team for the first time in her UA career. She was honorable mention last season. Pueyo uses her length to disrupt offenses by getting steals and deflections and narrowing passing lanes. She leads the Wildcats in steals with 2.3 per game, second best in the Pac-12. The senior also has an assist-to-turnover-ratio of 2.9. She received national recognition on the Naismith Midseason Defensive Player of the Year watchlist.

Reese, a fifth-year senior, is the only member of the All-Pac-12 team who has made it four times. Only one other Wildcat has done that: Davellyn Whyte from 2010-13. Reese was also on the All-Freshman team as a rookie. She averaged 12.8 points and 5.8 rebounds during the regular season. She shot 46% from the field. Over her UA career, she has scored 1,898 points and has 942 rebounds. She has started in all 150 games she has played, second to only Sam Thomas (154) on the all-time list.

Martinez was named honorable-mention All-Pac-12. She impacted every side of the game in her first season as a Wildcat, from rebounds to scoring and steals. Martinez averages a team-high 8.6 rebounds and 10.8 points per game. She has seven double-doubles. She has scored 1,190 points in her career, spanning her time at West Virginia and this season.