Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Pivec, Slocum Tabbed to Naismith Watch List
Oregon State standouts Mikayla Pivec and Destiny Slocum have both been selected to the Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday.
Both Pivec and Slocum were also named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top-30 on Tuesday, and were tabbed among ESPNW’s Top-25 Players in the Nation on Monday.
The Naismith Midseason 30 team will be announced in early February, and then the competition will be narrowed down to 10 national semifinalists on March 3, 2020. Following those results, four finalists will be named on March 20, 2020, and the winner of the 2020 Citizen Naismith Trophy for Women’s Player of the Year will be announced on April 4, 2020.
Pivec was an All-Pac-12 selection last season, and a WBCA All-America Finalist. The senior is already among the top nine in Oregon State history for career rebounds, and currently sits 14th in career points. She shot 52.6 percent from the floor last season, the second-highest mark in the Pac-12. Her 9.2 rebounds per game was third-best in the conference.
Pivec tallied 10 double-doubles in her junior campaign, and scored in double-figures in 31 of Oregon State’s 34 contests. She was selected to represent the USA at the Pan American Games last summer in Peru, helping the Stars and Stripes take silver.
Slocum was an All-Pac-12 selection last season, and a WBCA All-America Finalist. The guard was one of five finalists for last year’s Lieberman Award, after notching 12 20-point games and 19 games with 15 points or more. She shot 45.6 percent from the floor in 2018-19, the third-best percentage by a guard in the Pac-12.
Overall, Slocum averaged a team-best 15.4 points per game last season, to go with 4.5 assists. She became just the sixth player in Oregon State history with multiple point-assist double-doubles.
Oregon State will open the season Saturday when UC Irvine visits Gill Coliseum for the first round of the WNIT.