FAYETTEVILLE — Makayla Daniels said she wasn’t shocked at all when Arkansas teammate Samara Spencer was named the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s women’s basketball coaches Tuesday morning.
Spencer became the first Razorback to be named the conference’s top freshman in more than a decade and Amber Ramirez gave Arkansas an All-SEC selection for the third straight year. In addition, Jersey Wolfenbarger joined Spencer on the SEC all-freshman team to give the Razorbacks three representatives on the league’s postseason honors list.
“It was kind of like we all knew, but you know, we acted surprised,” Daniels said. “But we all knew. She’s one of the most confident freshmen I’ve ever met.”
Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors said Spencer made a fast impression when she got to campus, even before a game had been played.
“We saw her in the summer and we knew how lucky we were that she wanted to leave Florida,” Neighbors said. “For her to come in and perform consistently from day one, she got over that freshman wall early because we played her so much early.
“I mean she had an all-conference last eight to 10 games.”
Spencer joined former Razorbacks C’eira Ricketts (2009), Karyn Karlin (1997) and Christy Smith (1995) who have also claimed the award. The 5-7 guard from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., averages 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and a team-high 3.2 assists per game and started 24 of 28 games.
Spencer’s numbers are better in league play. She’s averaging 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and a shade under 3.5 assists against SEC opponents. She also earned SEC Freshman of the Week four times this season and joined Ricketts (five) as the only Razorbacks to be get the award four or more times.
Neighbors said earning postseason honors is particularly special this season.
“I told them all, put a little asterisk beside this because this is the hardest year to ever be named anything in this league because of the covid holdovers,” Neighbors said. “There’s a lot of kids on that whatever team that should be playing professionally.
“It was really hard this year to have a cut-off because there were so many great performers.”
He also said he was pleased to see Ramirez recognized after being overlooked in the past. But players like Daniels and Sasha Goforth could have also earned recognition, he said.
“We don’t see Mak’s name on anything and that just baffles me, mystifies me,” Neighbors said. “And Sasha Goforth not being on the all-defensive team after doing what she’s done in our league to the people she’s done it to. But it’s a hard list. I don’t know who you take off. Because that’s always that question and I’m not sure I have a good answer for you.”
Ramirez, one of the top three-point shooters in Razorback history, was named second-team All-SEC. The 5-9 guard from San Antonio leads the team with 15.3 points per game to go with 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 41.2%-shooting from the three-point line. Those numbers increase to 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 44.8% from beyond the three-point arc in league play.
Ramirez, the lone senior on the Razorbacks’ roster, transferred to Arkansas after playing two seasons at TCU and will leave Arkansas as one of the top shooters in school history.
Her career shooting percentage from beyond the three-point line (44.0) is currently the best in school history. She’s well ahead of Amber (Nicholas) Shirey’s mark of 41.6%. Ramirez recently passed Cheryl Orcholski for 19th on the all-time scoring list with 1,249 points. She’s 59 points shy of Razorback great India Lewis. Ramirez is currently fourth all-time with 256 made three-pointers. She’s 11 made three-pointers behind Lewis and Kimberly Wilson, who are tied for third all-time.
The 6-5 Wolfenbarger finished the season averaging 8.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. A McDonald’s All America pick coming out of Fort Smith Northside High School played on the perimeter most of the time, but was forced to play inside more especially defensively after an injury to starter Erynn Barnum on Dec. 5. Since then, Wolfenbarger has started 19 games, averaging 8.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Neighbors said he liked that the coaches acknowledged Wolfenarger’s value in all facets of the game.
“We’ve seen her growth,” Neighbors said. “Her first game was against Tamari Key in the SEC and now how she’s going up against some of the best post players, not only in our conference and our country but in the history of our conference.”
The Razorbacks (17-12) are the No. 8 seed in this week’s SEC Tournament. They face No. 9 Missouri at noon on Thursday in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
First Team All-SEC
Kiara Smith, Florida
Jenna Staiti, Georgia
Rhyne Howard, Kentucky
Khayla Pointer, LSU
Shakira Austin, Ole Miss
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Destanni Henderson, South Carolina
Jordan Horston, Tennessee
Second Team All-SEC
Brittany Davis, Alabama
Amber Ramirez, Arkansas
Aicha Coulibaly, Auburn
Que Morrison, Georgia
Alexis Morris, LSU
Anastasia Hayes, Mississippi State
Aijha Blackwell, Missouri
Hayley Frank, Missouri
Zia Cooke, South Carolina
Tamari Key, Tennessee
All-Freshman Team
Samara Spencer, Arkansas
Jersey Wolfenbarger, Arkansas
Alberte Rimdal, Florida
Jada Walker, Kentucky
Denae Carter, Mississippi State
Sara Puckett, Tennessee
Sacha Washington, Vanderbilt
Iyana Moore, Vanderbilt
All-Defensive Team
Kiara Smith, Florida
Que Morrison, Georgia
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Tamari Key, Tennessee
Jordyn Cambridge, Vanderbilt
Player of the Year – Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Freshman of the Year – Samara Spencer, Arkansas
Defensive Player of the Year – Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
6th Woman of the Year – Angel Baker, Ole Miss