Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year

The Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year is a basketball award given to the Mountain West Conference's (MW) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1999–2000 season, the first of the conference's existence. As of 2022–23, no MW player has received any national player of the year award.

Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	Most outstanding basketball player in the Mountain West Conference
Country	United States
History
First award	2000
Most recent	Desi-Rae Young, UNLV

Utah has the most awards with eight and individual recipients with five, but the Utes left the MW in 2011 to join what is now the Pac-12 Conference. Among current members, UNLV has the most awards with five, and shares honors with Colorado State for the most individual recipients with three. Two players have shared the award on five occasions—in 2001, consecutively from 2005 to 2007, and also in 2015. Four players have won the award more than once. Desi-Rae Young of UNLV won in 2022 and 2024; Ellen Nystrom of Colorado State won in 2016 and 2017; Linda Fröhlich of UNLV won the award outright in 2000 and 2002 and shared it in 2001; and Kim Gaucher (née Smith) of Utah won four times—outright in 2003 and 2004, and shared in 2005 and 2006.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national Player of the Year award: the Naismith College Player of the Year, Wade Trophy or the John R. Wooden Award
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Mountain West Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

 

Kim Gaucher, née Smith, is the only four-time recipient.

 

2021 recipient Haley Cavinder, pictured in high school.

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference^[a]
1999–00	Linda Fröhlich	UNLV	F	Sophomore
2000–01^†	Amy Ewert	Utah	G/F	Senior
	Linda Fröhlich (2)	UNLV	F	Junior
2001–02	Linda Fröhlich (3)	UNLV	F	Senior
2002–03	Kim Smith	Utah	F	Freshman
2003–04	Kim Smith (2)	Utah	F	Sophomore
2004–05^†	Kim Smith (3)	Utah	F	Junior
	Shona Thorburn	Utah	G	Junior
2005–06^†	Ambrosia Anderson	BYU	F	Senior
	Kim Smith (4)	Utah	F	Senior
2006–07^†	Dani Kubik-Wright	BYU	C	Senior
	Adrianne Ross	TCU	G	Junior
2007–08	Leilani Mitchell	Utah	G	Senior
2008–09	Morgan Warburton	Utah	G	Senior
2009–10	Helena Sverrisdóttir	TCU	G/F	Junior
2010–11	Aubrey Vandiver	Wyoming	G	Senior
2011–12	Courtney Clements	San Diego State	G	Junior
2012–13	Chelsea Hopkins	San Diego State	G	Senior
2013–14	Jennifer Schlott	Utah State	G	Senior
2014–15^†	Gritt Ryder	Colorado State	G	Senior
	Alex Sheedy	Fresno State	F	Senior
2015–16	Ellen Nystrom	Colorado State	G	Junior
2016–17	Ellen Nystrom (2)	Colorado State	G	Senior
2017–18	Liv Roberts	Wyoming	G	Senior
2018–19	Jaisa Nunn	New Mexico	C	Senior
2019–20	Maddi Utti	Fresno State	F	Junior
2020–21	Haley Cavinder	Fresno State	G	Sophomore	^[1]
2021–22	Desi-Rae Young	UNLV	C	Sophomore	^[2]
2022–23	McKenna Hofschild	Colorado State	G	Senior	^[3]
2023–24	Desi-Rae Young (2)	UNLV	C	Senior	^[4]

1. Except as indicated otherwise, all references are from the 2020–21 MW women's basketball record book, cited in the "References" section.

Winners by school

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
Utah (1999)^[a 1]	8	2001^†, 2003, 2004, 2005 (×2)^†, 2006^†, 2008, 2009
UNLV (1999)	5	2000, 2001^†, 2002, 2022, 2024
Colorado State (1999)	4	2015^†, 2016, 2017, 2023
BYU (1999)^[a 2]	3	2003, 2006^†, 2007^†
Fresno State (2012)	3	2015^†, 2020, 2021
San Diego State (1999)	2	2012, 2013
TCU (2005)^[a 3]	2	2007^†, 2010
Wyoming (1999)	2	2011, 2018
Utah State (2013)	1	2014
New Mexico (1999)	1	2019
Air Force (1999)	0	—
Boise State (2011)	0	—
Nevada (2012)	0	—
San Jose State (2013)	0	—

Footnotes

1. Utah left in 2011 to join what is now the Pac-12 Conference, and will join the Big 12 Conference in 2024.
2. BYU left in 2011 to join the West Coast Conference, and moved from there to the Big 12 in 2023.
3. TCU left in 2012 to join the Big 12.

References

• Winners through 2019–20: "2020–21 Mountain West Women's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Mountain West Conference. pp. 80–84. Retrieved August 7, 2021.

1. "Mountain West Announces 2020-21 Women's Basketball All-Conference Team" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
2. "Mountain West Announces 2021-22 Women's Basketball All-Conference Team and Individual Awards" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
3. "2022-23 Women's Basketball All-Mountain West Awards Announced" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
4. "MW Announces 2023-24 Postseason Accolades and All-Conference" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.