UA midseason awards: Who, what has stood out halfway through Pac-12 slate for Wildcats

The coaches always say there is no easy game in this league, and this season, matchups are even tighter. Across the board teams have improved, making each weekend a wild ride.

People are also reading… As the Wildcats hit the Pac-12 midseason mark, we thought it was a good time to take a look back at the first nine games.Top Performer: Esmery MartinezMartinez is the Wildcats' best all-around performer. She has 177 rebounds, with 71 coming on the offensive end to lead the Pac-12. Barnes has said that Martinez is the best rebounder she has ever coached. Martinez has 12 steals in the last nine games, including three apiece against Stanford, Oregon State and Colorado.

Runner-up: Lauren Fields. Barnes said that Fields shuts down the opponents’ best guard, game in and game out. She has 38 steals – 16 of them during the last nine games. She had three steals against UW and four against Oregon. Most improved: PellingtonThe game seems to have slowed down for Pellington as she is playing within herself. When she does that and doesn’t force things, she is at her best. Pellington played her first three league games with the flu and still managed to put up 31 points, grab five steals, dish 13 assists and pull down seven rebounds. She is still working on those free throws , but her other numbers are projecting out to be the best of her three-year UA career.

Runner-up: Maya Nnaji. Nnaji has shown growth game by game, and even improvement in-game. She has been held back by injuries; a few weeks ago she was in concussion protocol. She makes her presence known on both sides of the court and is averaging nearly 14 minutes per game. Worst loss: Colorado Colorado has now beaten three ranked teams on Friday nights — No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Utah and No. 19 Arizona. So there's no shame here — although Barnes would say that the way they lost stung. Another slow start for the Wildcats led to the need for yet another big rally in the closing minutes. This time it was the Wildcats' defense that hurt them — giving up a 3 to Frida Formann on a missed assignment.

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