PHOENIX — Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo has been named the WBCA Coaches’ Defensive Player of the Year as well as a WBCA All-American as announced on Thursday.
Hidalgo became the second player in program history to be named to the WBCA All-America team three times in her career, joining former standout Skylar Diggins. Hidalgo is the first to earn the WBCA Defensive Player of the Year accolades.
The phenom has already been named the ACC Player of the Year, Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year along with Naismith All-America, USBWA All-America and USA Today All-America First Teams.
The point guard averaged 25.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.6 steals and 5.2 assists per game. Hidalgo is the only women’s or men’s player at the DI level since the 1999-00 season to average at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals per game over an entire season.
Hidalgo set multiple NCAA steals records over the course of the season, including the single-season record with 202 during the 2025-26 campaign. She became the first women’s or men’s player to reach the 200-steal milestone in a season since steals became an official stat in 1988.
The Merchantville, New Jersey, native also set the record for most steals in a single NCAA Tournament with 29 over the course of four games. Hidalgo had back-to-back eight steal performances in wins over Fairfield and Ohio State before setting the program record for steals in an NCAA Tournament game with 10 in the win over Vanderbilt in the Sweet Sixteen. Hidalgo then added three more against UConn in the Elite Eight.
The junior turned in many incredible performances this season while breaking records along the way. Hidalgo set the all-time record for steals in a game and the program’s single-game scoring record against Akron, finishing with 44 points and 16 rebounds.
Arguably even more impressive, Hidalgo recorded just the second 30-point triple double in women’s NCAA Tournament history in the Sweet Sixteen win over Vanderbilt, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals and seven assists.
She has the career program scoring records for 30-point games (19), 20-point games (80) and consecutive games in double figures (103).
Hidalgo broke the program’s record for career steals (481) and season steals (202). The standout became the fastest player in ACC and program history to reach 2,000 career points, accomplishing the feat in 86 games.
Hidalgo played her best down the final stretch of the season, scoring 20 or more points in each of her last 11 games of the season, averaging 26.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 6.0 steals and 5.9 assists per game.