Three players from the University of Illinois Fighting Illini women’s basketball team received All-Big Ten honors after the regular season under head coach Shauna Green. Berry Wallace was named to the first team All-Big Ten by league coaches and to the second team by media. Cearah Parchment received honorable mention and All-Freshman Team recognition, while Destiny Jackson also made the All-Freshman Team. Graduate student Gisela Segura earned Illinois’ Sportsmanship Award.
Berry Wallace, a sophomore from Pickerington, Ohio, achieved her first Big Ten postseason honor and became the 19th Illinois player to earn First Team status. She doubled her scoring average from last year, finishing with 544 points—16th on Illinois’ single-season list—and is 30 points away from entering the top 10. Wallace started all 29 games, averaging 18.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and shot nearly 49% from the field.
Wallace is now the third player coached by Shauna Green to receive First Team honors in four seasons, following Makira Cook (2022-23) and Kendall Bostic (last season). She is also the first sophomore at Illinois to earn this recognition since Jenna Smith in 2007-08.
Cearah Parchment was honored with both an honorable mention and selection to the All-Freshman Team by coaches and media voters. The last time an Illinois freshman achieved unanimous selection for both lists was in 2014-15. Parchment led all Big Ten players with 12 double-doubles during her rookie season and tied a program record for freshman rebounds with 251. She averaged 13.8 points per game across her first semester at Illinois.
Destiny Jackson also made the All-Freshman Team unanimously among coaches and media voters. The Chicago native set a new program record for assists by a freshman with 151 and ranks sixth on Illinois’ single-season assists list overall. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is fifth-best in the Big Ten and tops among freshmen nationally.
The selection of both Jackson and Parchment marks only the second time in school history that two freshmen have been chosen for this honor in one season—the previous instance was in 1997.
Gisela Segura was recognized as this year’s Sportsmanship Award honoree for Illinois. A graduate student from Cervera, Spain, Segura has played eight games for Illinois after joining as a transfer for her sixth college basketball season.
Illinois will start its postseason run against Wisconsin on Wednesday at 5 p.m. CT in Indianapolis during the first round of the Big Ten Tournament; coverage will be available on Peacock or NBCSN.
The Fighting Illini women’s basketball program competes in NCAA Division I within the Big Ten Conference and plays both conference and non-conference games throughout their season (official website). The program supports athletes balancing academics with sports while upholding athletic traditions at Champaign-Urbana (official website), contributing to athletic heritage at University of Illinois (official website).
