Welsh star Issy Bunyan of the Cardiff Met Archers has won the Molten WBBL Young Player of the Year award, following a vote by WBBL head coaches and captains in which she was emphatically the top pick of every eligible voter.
The 18-year-old has come through the junior ranks at Archers and is in her third season representing the team in the WBBL, with significantly increased minutes in this campaign and improved output across the board. She has represented Great Britain at u18 level, recently starred for Wales in the u18 Four Nations Tournament, and was in the senior Wales 3×3 team that competed in qualifiers for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.
As a starter on the Archers team and averaging over 30 minutes per game, she was instrumental in Cardiff’s highest WBBL Championship finish in seven years – matching their seventh place of 2015-16 – as they reached the WBBL Play-offs for the first time in the last five attempts with a 9-13 record.
For the season she averaged 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, with the 5’11” wing being fourth overall in the WBBL for blocked shots.
Bunyan turned in some her best performances in big games for Archers, with a season-high of 23 points in the Betty Codona WBBL Trophy first round success over near-rivals Durham Palatinates in January, shooting 9-14 (64%) from the field to lead their scoring and keep her team in touch that day, before handing out a couple of key assists in a 25-11 fourth quarter.
Her league season-high for points came in a crucial road win at Nottingham Wildcats at the start of April as both teams pursued a WBBL Play-off place, Bunyan scoring 22 points with five steals in the 79-75 victory, including the go-ahead three-pointer with five minutes to play as they overturned a 15-point deficit late on.
She had previously set the tone for her year, and demonstrated her development, with 21 points in a 67-64 October road win at Essex Rebels in which she iced a pair of crucial free-throws with three seconds remaining, having scored eight points in a row in the decisive second stanza run that put Archers ahead for good in that game.
Bunyan joins an exclusive list of young stars, all of whom have gone on to great achievements already, including: Holly Winterburn, star guard for London Lions and Great Britain; Praise Egharevba, currently at Oklahoma State in the Big 12; Gabby Nikitinaite, who plays in Switzerland and averaged 17 points per game in the EuroCup; Georgia Gayle of B. Braun Sheffield Hatters and Great Britain; and Savannah Wilkinson, who has just completed an illustrious college career at Florida State and Southern Methodist University.
A full record of votes can be found below:
| Voter | First Pick (three points) | Second Pick (two points) | Third Pick (one point) |
| Miguel Angel Ortega Marco (Caledonia Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Natalie Charity |
| Erin McGarrachan (Caledonia Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Kizzy Spence | Alejandra Escriva Gay |
| Stef Collins (Cardiff Coach) | Abbey Whitehouse | Natalie Charity | Daisy Porter |
| Shannon Hatch (Cardiff Captain) | Grace Ashton | Zoe Sharpe | Daisy Porter |
| Lee Davie (Durham Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Abbey Whitehouse | Laura Habling |
| Elle Hendershot (Durham Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Zoe Sharpe | Abbey Whitehouse |
| Ross Norfolk (Essex Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Katie Cox | Abbey Whitehouse |
| Andrea Kohlhaas (Essex Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Katie Cox | Miriam Carrasco-Menendez |
| Krumesh Patel (Leicester Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Abbey Whitehouse |
| Ashley Arlen (Leicester Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Jade Mbam |
| Stella Kaltsidou (London Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Abbey Whitehouse |
| Shanice Beckford-Norton (London Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Katie Cox | Charlie Wroe |
| Marg Jones (Manchester Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Natalie Charity |
| Leah McDerment (Manchester Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Natalie Charity |
| Noelia Cacheiro (Newcastle Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Abbey Whitehouse | Kian Omer-Jones |
| Marina Fernandez (Newcastle Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Abbey Whitehouse | Natalie Charity |
| Kenrick Liburd (Nottingham Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Abbey Whitehouse |
| Brae Ashton (Nottingham Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Macy Cook | Zoe Sharpe |
| Tor Freeman (Oaklands Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Abbey Whitehouse |
| Cassidy Gould (Oaklands Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Isobel Robinson |
| Len Busch (Sevenoaks Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Jade Mbam | Charlie Wroe |
| Renee Busch (Sevenoaks Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Charlie Wroe | Jade Mbam |
| Vanessa Ellis (Sheffield Coach) | Issy Bunyan | Natalie Charity | Maisie Keyes |
| Helen Naylor (Sheffield Captain) | Issy Bunyan | Natalie Charity | Katie Cox |