The Ivy League announced its major women’s awards Tuesday, but we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2021-22 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:
Player of the Year
Abby Meyers, Princeton (Sr., G – Potomac, Md.)
Meyers has been the best player on the conference’s best team. Meyers finished her senior season second in the league in scoring and fourth in field-goal percentage, including a league-best 40.9% from outside the arc. Meyers’ scoring acumen complements the league’s stingiest defense, and Meyers is one of four Tigers in the league’s top 15 players in steals. The senior captain was also an Academic All-Ivy selection, so she also had a stellar year where it matters most.
Rookie of the Year
Harmoni Turner, Harvard (Fy., Mansfield, Texas)
Defensive Player of the Year
Camilla Emsbo, Yale (Jr., F – Lakewood, Colo.)
Emsbo resumed her shot-swatting duties as a junior, leading the league in that category while collecting 10 or more defensive rebounds in three Ivy games. Coach Allison Guth’s teams perennially rely on tough defenses, and Emsbo anchors this unit.
Most Improved Player of the Year
Jenna Clark, Yale (So., G – Pittsburgh)
Clark started just one of 25 games she appeared in as a first-year, averaging 1.8 rebounds, 0.9 points and 0.5 assists per contest. When Clark played all 45 minutes of Yale’s season-opening win at Providence on Nov. 9, it became clear that her production was about to skyrocket for good. In fact, Clark finished the season second in minutes leaguewide behind only Padilla. She made the most of her time, averaging 11.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and a league-leading six assists per game. Clark has become the conduit for Yale’s offense, making other Bulldogs better while also drawing from her shooting prowess to take matters into her own hands at times (ranking fifth in the conference in three-point percentage in Ivy play).
Coach of the Year
Megan Griffith, Columbia
Griffith has led her alma mater to a 12-2 Ivy record. That’s an extraordinary finish for a program that had lost 10 or more Ivy games in nine straight seasons prior to last season’s 8-6 finish. When Griffith took over at Columbia as the third-youngest coach in Division I in 2016, this is the kind of season that program supporters had to be hoping for. The Lions’ defense got better as the season progressed. This team does the little things well at the other end of the floor, too, leading the league in assists and offensive rebounding in Ivy play. Columbia’s rise has been great for Ivy League basketball, and it makes Griffith the clear choice here.
Game of the Year
All-Ivy First Team
Abby Meyers, Princeton (Sr., G – Potomac, Md.)
Camilla Emsbo, Yale (Jr., F – Lakewood, Colo.)
Emsbo was no slouch at the offensive end of the floor, ranking sixth leaguewide in scoring and first in field-goal percentage by being the only player to eclipse 50% shooting (52%).
Kayla Padilla, Penn (Jr., G – Torrance, Calif.)
Padilla is a cut above the rest of the league offensively and could credibly claim to be the conference’s best scorer and passer in addition to being the most valuable talent to her team among all Ivies. Padilla finished first in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, an impressive feat given how often she had the ball in her hands in her conference-highest 37.2 minutes per contest. If anyone can lead a bounce-back season for Penn in 2022-23 after the program missed the Ivy League Tournament for the first time, it’s Padilla.
Harmoni Turner, Harvard (Fy., Mansfield, Texas)
Turner can do it all, and as a first-year in Kathy Delaney-Smith’s last year holding court at Lavietes Pavilion, Turner did so often. She stepped up with a season-high 25 points on top of seven boards, four assists and four steals in Harvard’s critical win over Yale at Lavietes. That gaudy stat line was typical for Turner, who has become one of the Ivy’s most dynamic scorers (15.8 points per game, fourth leaguewide), defenders (2.5 steals per game, second leaguewide) and passers (2.6 points a contest, eighth leaguewide). Turner burns opponents from three-point range and at the foul line, boasting the league’s best free-throw percentage. Turner damages opponents everywhere on the court and is poised to be one of the Ivy League’s finest talents for years to come.
Abbey Hsu, Columbia (So., Parkland, Fla.)
It’s a rare that one of a conference’s best scorers and three-point shooters is also one of its best shot-blockers, but that’s what Hsu has been. Along with Kaitlyn Davis, Hsu helped make Columbia the Ivy’s most efficient shooting team. Hsu made 3.5 three-pointers per game, easily leading the conference. Hsu went a red-hot 16-for-33 from long range in four wins over Harvard and Penn that helped ensure a second straight Ivy League Tournament berth for the Lions. This time, they’ll actually get to play, allowing Hsu to pick up where she left off at the end of the regular season after shooting an even more scorching 11-for-19 from three-point land in the Lions’ last two games.
All-Ivy Second Team
Julia Cunningham, Princeton (Jr., G – Watchung, N.J.)
Cunningham was one of the conference’s most reliable scorers, posting double figures in 22 of the Tigers’ 26 games and trailing only Meyers among the many talented Tigers in three-point shooting percentage and Princeton paint stalwart Ellie Mitchell in offensive rebounding.
Kaitlyn Davis, Columbia (Jr., G/F – Norwalk, Conn.)
Columbia’s defense tightened up during league play, allowing fewer points during league play than any other Ivy besides Princeton. Davis was critical to that effort, finishing second in blocks, fourth in defensive rebounds and 15th in steals. Davis was at her best when Columbia entered into matchups cementing it in the league’s upper echelon this season, posting double-doubles in two wins against Penn and giving a memorable 11-point, nine-rebound, five-steal, four-block, two-assist performance in a home win over Yale.
Jordan Obi, Penn (So., F – Cupertino, Calif.)
In her first year of action, Obi quickly established herself as one of the Ivy’s most formidable paint patrollers, finishing fifth in the conference in blocks and third in defensive rebounds. Obi ranked third in the Ivy in minutes in conference play behind only Padilla and Clark, demonstrating how much Penn relied on her. That included a 42-minute, 20-point, 12-board, three-assist outing in a thrilling overtime win at Harvard that temporarily kept Penn in the Ivy Madness hunt and suggests a bright future for Obi in Red and Blue.
McKenzie Forbes, Harvard (Jr., G – Folsom, Calif.)
Down the stretch of Harvard’s ultimately successful Ivy Madness bid, Forbes became one of Harvard’s most dependable scorer, getting in double figures in seven of the Crimson’s final eight games. Forbes finished in the league’s top 10 in scoring, assists, free-throw and three-point percentages and three-pointers made.
Jenna Clark, Yale (So., G – Pittsburgh)