CBU Dominates the WAC Postseason Awards Following Regular Season Title
3/10/2026 6:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ARLINGTON, TX--- The WAC postseason awards were announced on Tuesday evening, with the California Baptist University women's basketball team earning several honors after finishing as the conference regular season champions.
CBU would win four of the five major awards and would earn six players on the All-WAC/All-Freshman teams, concluding what was an incredible regular season that saw the Lancers go undefeated on the road in conference play and go 15-3 in the WAC schedule. The six players are the most in program history in any single postseason award cycle, with the previous record being four in 2020-21.
Head Coach Jarrod Olson would bring home his fourth WAC Coach of the Year honor after leading the Lancers to another 20+ win season and capturing his third regular season title in the last six seasons. Coach Olson would also reach another significant milestone this season, surpassing the 300-win mark as the head coach of the Lancers, a position he took over in 2013. In the DI era alone, Coach Olson has racked up over 160 wins since the team made the jump in 2018, leading the Lancers to their first NCAA Tournament in 2023-24. This season, Coach Olson helped the Lancers rebound from an injury-plagued 2024-25 season, in which the team finished 12-19 overall and lost in the opening round of the WAC tournament, to now finish 21-10 in the regular season and earn the outright regular season title and the #1 overall seed.
Freshman phenom Lauren Olsen earned the title of WAC Freshman of the Year after leading the Lancers in scoring in her first season coming out of Douglas High School in Wyoming. The Lancers have now won the honor in back-to-back seasons after her teammate CeCe Legaspi was the recipient a season ago. Olsen averaged over 15 points per game for the Lancers and would finish second in the WAC in conference-only scoring at nearly 17 per contest. Olsen scored over 20 points on seven different occasions this season, including a career-high 27 points against Pacific in non-conference action, which would be one point shy of the program freshman scoring record. Olsen would set the single-season freshman scoring record, beating out her teammate Grace Schmidt, who originally set the record in 2022-23.
Emma Johansson would bring home the program's first Defensive Player of the Year award since 2021-22 when Ane Olaeta won the honor after leading the conference in steals. Johansson finished the regular season as the conference leader in blocks and blocks per game and would finish second in total blocks and third in blocks per game in the NCAA. Johansson averaged over 2.7 blocks per game with 85 total blocks, which would also help her set the DI-era program record for blocks in a single season and the DI-era record for total blocks in a career. Johansson had seven games of 5+ blocks this season, including a career-best seven on opening against UCR. Johansson would also average over seven rebounds per game and would finish third on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game.
The final major award winner would be Khloe Lemon, who would bring home the first 6th Player of the Year award for CBU. Lemon was a sparkplug off the bench for the Lancers this season, playing in all but seven games. Lemon led the WAC in bench scoring at 10 points per game and would have two 25+ games this season in which she came off the pine. Lemon had arguably her best game of the season at Abilene Christian on February 7 when she scored 25 points off the bench in a critical road win over the Wildcats. Lemon was an All-WAC Second Team member last season and followed that up with another impressive season for CBU.
On the All-WAC teams, the Lancers would have six total players, including two on the first team, two on the second team, and two on the all-freshman team. On the First Team, Filipa Barros and Lauren Olsen would earn their spot on the prestigious list after leading the team in scoring in conference matches. This would make the third time in program history the Lancers have earned multiple players on the first team, having done so in 2021 and 2022. Barros had the best season of her collegiate career after returning from a season-ending injury last season. Barros averaged 11 points per game, 10 rebounds per game, and over four assists per game while also leading the team in steals at 2.74. Barros had a triple-double in non-conference action against Long Beach State, making it just the second in program history. Barros would also post five games this season of 20+ points, including a career-best 32 points against UTA on January 31, and would be named the WAC Player of the Week three times. Barros finished second in the nation in rebounding by a guard at 9.5 per contest and would record 12 double-doubles this season.
On the All-WAC second team would be the frontcourt pairing of Johansson and Grace Schmidt. Schmidt would earn her second All-WAC Second Team honor of her career after doing so in 2022-23. Schmidt missed nearly the entirety of the non-conference schedule with a lingering injury from last season. Schmidt would start every conference game and averaged over 10 points per contest while playing 23 minutes per game. The senior would record three games of 20+ points, including a season-best 23 points in a road win at Southern Utah.
On the All-Freshman team, Olsen would be joined by Reyleigh Hess, who would submit a solid first-year campaign in which she appeared in all but one game. The Windsor, Colorado native averaged three points and three rebounds in a bench role for Coach Olson's team. Hess scored a career-best 12 points in a road game at UC Irvine in non-conference action and finished third on the team in blocks with 14.
The Lancers will begin their postseason run on Friday, March 13, against the winner of the Utah Valley/Tarleton State game on Thursday afternoon at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
