*Article From Rice Athletics*
Senior guard Erica Ogwumike of the Rice women's basketball team was voted Preseason Conference USA Player of the Year by the league's head coaches, announced in conjunction with the Coaches Preseason Poll on Wednesday.
Last year's C-USA Player of the Year, Ogwumike was voted the league's preseason favorite for the award for the second straight year and has been named to the Preseason C-USA Team in each of the last two seasons.
Ogwumike is coming off a season in which she became the first Owl in program history to earn C-USA Player of the Year honors and was selected to the C-USA First Team for a second straight season. She was a catalyst on a Rice team that won a school record 28 games, won both the C-USA regular season and conference tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005.
The senior guard averaged 16.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game, the only player to rank in the top-10 in the league in each of those categories. Ogwumike led all of C-USA in double-doubles (18) and total rebounds (327) while ranking third in the league in both free throws made (136) and free throw percentage (84.5).
To complete the academic year, Ogwumike was chosen as the 2018-19 C-USA Female Athlete of the Year and earned an invite to the U.S. Pan American Team Trials.
In just two seasons at Rice, Ogwumike ranks 13th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,084 points and has surpassed 1,500 points for her career.
Ogwumike's scoring average at Rice of 17.2 points per game ranks first in school history entering her senior campaign while her 9.3 rebounds per contest ranks fourth. She also ranks 26th in the NCAA among active players in career double-doubles (26).
-RiceOwls.com-