The Pima College media relations department contributed to this report:
Pima Community College women’s basketball player Hallie Lawson was selected a first-team NJCAA Division II All-American on Tuesday, a day after men’s hoops standout Jake Lieppert was chosen a third-team All-American.
Lawson, a sophomore forward out of Gilbert Campo Verde High School, is the 15th NJCAA All-American in the program’s history.
She was named ACCAC Division II Player of the Year, first team All-ACCAC and first team All-Region I, Division II. She played and started in all 31 games this season as she led the Aztecs in average minutes (28.7), points (13.5) and rebounds (7.0) per game. Her season-high was 22 points on two occasions and she scored more than 15 points in 13 games this season.
Lawson played in all 67 games in her Pima career, making 57 starts. Her career-high was 35 points on Dec. 12, 2018, at Tohono O’odham Community College.
The honor for Lieppert, a freshman guard from Scottsdale Saguaro, means the Pima men have produced an All-American in four straight years. It was the fifth All-American honor overall under coach Brian Peabody. Abram Carrasco (Cholla High School grad) was awarded first team honors in 2019 while Keven Biggs (Cienega) captured second team praise in 2018. Deion James (Empire) was a first-team All-American in 2017. Murphy Gershman (Tucson High) was selected second team in 2015.
In 13 seasons at the helm, women’s coach Todd Holthaus has produced an NJCAA All-American in 11 of those seasons. This is the fourth straight year the Aztecs have an NJCAA All-American. Lawson joins Jessie Ingraham (2008), Tia Morrison (2009, 2010), Abyee Maracigan (2009, 2010), Deanna Daniels (2011), A’jha Edwards (2013), Raja Moreno-Ross (2014), Sydni Stallworth (2016, 2017), Jacqulynn Nakai (2018, 2019) and Shauna Bribiescas (2019).
Latrina Bennett was the first Aztecs women’s basketball NJCAA All-American in 1994.
Lieppert played and started in 30 games this season and was fourth in the NJCAA with a 23.7 point-scoring average (led the ACCAC conference). He led the Aztecs in three-point field goal percentage at 41.7 percent. He shot 48.8 percent from the field. He also averaged 7.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Lieppert’s season-high of 48 points came on Nov. 20 at Cochise College when he went 10 for 14 from three-point range. He hit five or more three-pointers in 12 games and surpassed the 20-point total in 22 games this season.
Lieppert has received scholarship offers from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Portland State University, and the University of South Dakota among others.
The Aztecs finished with a 19-13 overall record and fell in the NJCAA Region I, Division II championship game at Glendale Community College.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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