STANFORD, Calif. – Kiki Iriafen was named the winner of the 2024 Katrina McClain Award, recognizing the nation's best power forward, and Cameron Brink was voted the winner of the 2024 Lisa Leslie Award, given to the country's top center, when the Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Coaches Association revealed this year's five positional award winners on Saturday.
Also known as the Women's Naismith Starting Five, the winners were determined by a combination of input from committees composed of top basketball personnel and Starting Five Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies. In addition to the McClain and Leslie Awards, the organizations handed out the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award (Caitlin Clark – Iowa), the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award (JuJu Watkins – USC), and the Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award (Madison Booker – Texas).
Since the full slate of five awards began in 2018, it's the third time one school has had multiple players represented. Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (point guard) and Ruthy Hebard (power forward) were both winners in 2018 and again in 2020 when they were joined by Satou Sabally (small forward).
Third in the league in scoring (19.4) and rebounding (11.0), Kiki Iriafen was one of two players in the country to average 19.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game this season (Elizabeth Kitley – Virginia Tech). In 10 games against the AP Top 25 this season she averaged 20.0 points and 11.2 rebounds and was the only player in the country to average 20+ points and 11+ rebounds against ranked foes.
The Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year took a massive leap as a junior and after averaging 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds as a sophomore, put up 19.4 points (+12.7) and 11.0 rebounds (+7.0) per game this season. She owned the second-best year-over-year improvement in the country in scoring average and was first in rebounding average.
Among a number of memorable performances this season, Iriafen scored a career-high 41 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in Stanford's NCAA second-round victory over Iowa State. Her 41 points are a single-game high this tournament and tied for the ninth-most in NCAA Tournament history. The point total is tied for sixth in Stanford single-game history and the most for the Cardinal since Nneka Ogwumike had 42 against Tennessee on Dec. 20, 2011. Iriafen joined fellow Cardinal Jayne Appel as the only DI players with 41 points and 16 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game in the past 25 years. Appel had 46 and 16, also against Iowa State, in the Elite Eight on March 30, 2009.
In her senior season, Brink was the only player in the country to average 17.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game and just the ninth major conference player to do that since 1999-2000. She finished with a PER of 45.75, the best mark for a major conference player since 2018-19.
Brink's 424 career blocks are the 14th most in NCAA history and her national-best 3.74 blocks per game average this season were the most by a major conference player since 2020-21. She was fifth nationally in rebounds per game, averaging a team-best 11.9, the third best in program history behind Chiney Ogwumike in both 2012-13 (12.9) and 2013-14 (12.1).
Her 127 blocks this season broke her own school record from last year (118) and are the third-most in Pac-12 history. When she arrived on campus, Jayne Appel held Stanford's career (273) and single-season (84) blocked shots records. Brink's 88 blocks as a freshman were her fewest at Stanford.
Using College Basketball Reference advanced metrics, she topped all DI players in defensive box plus/minus (9.9), total rebound percentage (24.6) and block percentage (13.8). Her defensive rating of 69.9 was second.
Brink's career totals of 1,892 points, 1,223 rebounds, 226 assists and 424 blocks make her the third player with 1,800 points, 1,200 rebounds, 200 assists and 400 blocks in the past 25 years along with Brittney Griner (Baylor) and Courtney Paris (Oklahoma). This year, she also became the first college player with 500 points, 300 rebounds and 100 blocks in back-to-back seasons since UConn's Breanna Stewart (2014-16).
This season was the first time Stanford had two players average a double-double in the same season since Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike in 2011-12. In national records dating back to 1999-2000, it's also the first time a school has had two players average 17.0 points and 11.0 rebounds for an entire season.