Hopkins Receives Honorable Mention All-Northwest Conference Recognition

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University senior guard Kassin Hopkins (Connell, WA/Connell HS/Bellevue College) has been named Honorable Mention All-Northwest Conference in women's basketball as selected by the NWC head coaches. A total of 17 student-athletes were honored on the 2019-20 All-Northwest Conference Women's Basketball Team, with six players on the First Team, five players on the second team, and six players receiving Honorable Mention.

Makana Stone, a senior forward at Whitman College, was selected NWC Women's Basketball Player of the Year. Forward Brilie Kovaloff of Pacific University was chosen NWC Women's Basketball Freshman of the Year. Head Coach Michelle Ferenz from Whitman was named NWC Coach of the Year.

Willamette completed the season with a 13-12 overall record, including 7-9 in the NWC for part of a three-way tie for fourth place. The Bearcats achieved an overall winning record for the second time in three years.

Honorable Mention All-Northwest Conference

Kassin Hopkins (Sr., G) started all 25 games this season. She led the Bearcats in scoring with 278 points for 11.1 points per game. She hauled down 107 rebounds, which ranked second on the team. She tied for second on the roster with 4.3 rebounds per game.

This year, Hopkins also averaged 1.9 assists and 0.9 steals per game. She topped Willamette with 45 three-point baskets. She shot 35.2% from 3-point range (45 of 128). She converted 79.1% of her free throw attempts (53 of 67) to rank first on the team. Hopkins scored in double figures 16 times, including a career-high 22 points against Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) at Cone Field House in a 72-58 win for the Bearcats on Nov. 15, 2019. She made a career-high five 3-pointers against Pomona-Pitzer.

She registered five or more rebounds 13 times during the season, and tied a career high twice with seven rebounds against California Institute of Technology on Nov. 27, 2019 and versus Linfield College on Jan. 18, 2020. Her first seven-rebound effort was against Linfield a year ago on Feb. 2, 2019.

In two seasons at Willamette since transferring from Bellevue College (Wash.), Hopkins earned 474 points, 168 rebounds, 89 assists and 35 steals. She averaged 9.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. She connected on 83 career 3-pointers and sank 89 of 112 free throws (79.5%). While at Bellevue, Hopkins helped the women's basketball team when a Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) championship.