HONOLULU — Abby Spurgin made quite an impact upon arrival with the Hawaii Pacific women’s basketball program.

Spurgin, a 6-foot-3 post player who transferred as a graduate student from West Texas A&M, was named the PacWest Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season this week after averaging a conference-best 22.3 points and second-best 9.3 rebounds per contest.

She was a five-time PacWest player of the week, as well. The Fredericksburg, Texas, native shot 50% from the field and had a PacWest-best 56 blocked shots as well to help her earn Newcomer of the Year honors.

Hawaii Hilo guard Mandi Kawaha joined Spurgin on the all-conference first-team. HPU’s Avery Cargill and Hilo’s Kamalu Kamakawiwoole were named to the third team.

Sixth-seeded HPU (14-13, 12-8 PWC), the only of the three Hawaii PacWest schools to qualify for the league’s six-team postseason tournament, plays third-seeded Concordia Irvine in the first round at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Chaminade’s McCabe Gym.

On the men’s side, No. 4 Hawaii Hilo (17-8, 13-7) and No. 6 Chaminade (14-14, 9-11) qualified for the six-team bracket. Host Chaminade faces No. 3 Academy of Art in the first round at 5 p.m. Thursday at McCabe, while UHH follows against No. 5 Biola at 7:15 p.m.

Hilo’s Carlos Ramsey Jr. was PacWest Newcomer of the Year after averaging 16.7 points per game as a transfer from Highland Community College, and Vulcans center Nadjrick Peat was the Defender of the Year after swatting a league-best 62 shots.

Hilo also got two players on the PWC men’s first team in guard Darren Williams and forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, who were both repeat all-league selections. Ramsey made the second team, along with Chaminade’s Isaac Amaral-Artharee and Braden Olsen.

Chaminade’s Ross Reaves was Freshman of the Year after putting up 15.5 points per game.

HPU guard Marquis Moore made the third team.

The winners of the Pacwest men's and women's tournaments Saturday attain automatic berths to the NCAA Division II championships.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.