SEATTLE – Whether scoring or passing, rebounding or stealing, Jordan McPhee was a force on the basketball court this past winter.
 
On Friday night, the senior star's performance was recognized by the entire Seattle Pacific athletic community when she was named the university's Athlete of the Year.
 
The native of Normandy Park, just southwest of Seattle and graduate of Mount Rainier High School is the eighth women's basketball player all-time, and the first since Valerie Gustafson won in 2004 to have her name added to the Ron Grady Award plaque.
 
 

That was just one of three major awards presented to McPhee during the year-ending athletic awards banquet in Upper Gwinn Commons.
 
She was a winner of the C. Clifford McCrath 101 Club Scholar-Athlete Award, which is given to one graduating female and one graduating male with the highest grade-point averages among four-year letterwinners. McPhee is a business administration major with a 3.97 GPA, which helped her earn CoSIDA Academic All-District first team and Academic All-America second team distinction.
 
She also was one of four seniors to receive the Falcon Award for Excellence, the most prestigious honor an SPU student-athlete can earn and is presented for career achievements in athletics and academics.
 
McPhee led the Falcons to a 23-8 record last season, averaging a team-high 13.7 points per game. That average included the 1,000^th point of her career, which she scored on Feb. 8 in Brougham Pavilion against Simon Fraser. That made her just the 23^rd Falcon to reach a grand in the points column.
 
She also set the pace in steals with 60. McPhee was part of three free throw records. Her 135 makes were most in a single season by any Falcon. Her 13-for-14 mark at Simon Fraser on Jan. 13 tied the single-game record for accuracy. And, she hit 6 of 6 in the season-opening game against Humboldt State last Nov. 10, as SPU set a team single-gamer record for accuracy by draining 23 of 24 (95.8 percent).
 
The Falcons went on to play in their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship game, and advanced to the NCAA West Regionals for the first time since 2015.
 
At the end of the season, McPhee was voted to the All-GNAC first team and was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. She also was named an honorable mention All-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
 
This spring, McPhee turned out for track, and scored at the GNAC meet with an eighth-place finish in the 1500 meters.
 
 

 Receiving the 101 Club Scholar-Athlete Award for the men was soccer player Ryan Higgins. He has a perfect 4.0 GPA as a physiology major. Higgins was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District and All-America teams and was a three-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic selection while being part of a defensive group that posted 21 shutouts during the past four years.
 
In addition to McPhee, the Falcon Award for Excellence was presented to men's soccer player Jess Cayetano, women's soccer player Simone Herzberg, and women's basketball player Courtney Hollander.
 
 

Cayetano assisted on six SPU goals last fall, two of which were game-winners. He also put three of his own shots in to the back of the net and was voted to the All-GNAC second team. His four-year career included 10 assists and seven goals, along with two GNAC championships and two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. A physiology major, Cayetano has a 3.94 grade-point average, and the award for his classwork include CoSIDA Academic All-America.
 
 

Herzberg helped the Seattle Pacific women make the GNAC Tournament all four years, including the 2014 team that won the tourney title. She and the Falcons played in three NCAA tournaments. During her four years, she racked up seven goals and seven assists, with a pair two-goal games last fall. With her 3.95 GPA as a physiology major, she has won multiple academic awards, among them an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
 
 

Hollander was one of the big reasons SPU put those 23 women's basketball victories into the book last winter. She averaged 12.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and dished 69 assists. Her point total also included the 1,000^th of her career, and she finished with 1,108 points, 701 rebounds, and 80 percent free throw shooting. Hollander was All-GNAC honorable mention as a sophomore and second team as a junior and senior. She has a 3.67 GPA as a business administration major.
 
 

Volleyball senior Sophie Kuehl won the John Glancy Award, which is presented for leadership, community service, and other intangibles that aren't part of the stat sheet. Kuehl was credited with help easing the way when new head coach Abbie Wright took charge of the SPU program last fall. Off the court, she has volunteered with the Union Gospel Mission in Portland, has been on a medical mission to Indonesia, and volunteered at an orphanage in Costa Rica. She also helps with "Play Ball," an initiative of the Seattle Mariners to provide underprivileged children with a chance to play baseball and softball games.
 
Also recognized were 36 scholar-athletes who earned GPAs of 3.50 or higher for three consecutive quarters (spring 2017, fall 2017, and winter 2018), and 27 seniors who received four-year blankets.
 
Women's basketball was saluted for having the highest cumulative grade-point average among all of SPU's teams at 3.524.