Cardoso Named WBCA Defensive Player of the Year
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina senior center Kamilla Cardoso was named the 2024 Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association NCAA Div. I Defensive Player of the Year, the organization announced today. She is the first Gamecock to claim the honor from the WBCA and joins Aliyah Boston as the program’s only national defensive players of the year.
“Defense is about determination, intensity, effort and teamwork. Kamila Cardoso is an outstanding student-athlete who embodies these characteristics at the highest level,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle M. Donehew. “Kamila has consistently presented a challenge to opposing coaches and players. We celebrate her contribution to her team and to the game of women’s basketball.”
Cardoso was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year and has picked up several All-America selections as the season wraps up. The Gamecocks’ top scorer (14.1 ppg) and rebounder (9.4 rpg), she impacts the game on both ends of the floor. The senior is 14th in the nation with 2.48 blocks per game. She is 10th in the nation in player defensive rating (72.6) and anchors the top defensive team in the country as the Gamecocks have allowed opponents to shoot just 32.1 percent from the field and yield just 56.0 points per game.
The Defensive Player of the Year award honors the best defensive women’s basketball player in all of NCAA Division I. All conference defensive players of the year in NCAA Division I are considered for the award. If a conference does not select a defensive player of the year, the conference office can nominate one player to be considered.
No. 1/1 South Carolina is in the NCAA Final Four for the fourth-straight season and sixth in the last nine tournaments and will face No. 11/11 NC State on Fri., Apr. 5, at 7 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on ESPN.
Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts (@GamecockWBB) for the most up-to-date information on South Carolina women’s basketball.
