As the Pac-12 Conference Tournament gets set to begin on the women's side this week in Las Vegas the league announced his season-ending awards Tuesday and as expected Arizona was well represented.

At the top is the Wildcats' most important player, Aari McDonald, who earned the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award Tuesday. The junior from Fresno, California is known for what she can do on the offensive end of the floor as the conference leader in scoring. However, McDonald is the catalyst for her team defensively, and she was a level above everyone else in the league this season.

McDonald currently leads the Pac-12 with 2.5 steals per game and has helped Arizona become one of the top teams in the conference this season. She has been a big part of the turnaround in Tucson this season and now is adding some hardware to prove it. McDonald is the first UA player to win the conference's defensive player of the year award since Ify Ibekwe won it in 2011.

The Arizona guard was also named to the conference's all-defensive team alongside teammate Sam Thomas. The junior from Las Vegas has been another key piece to the Wildcats' turnaround this season coming off a successful run in the WNIT last year. Thomas and McDonald represent the only players from the same team to make the five-player squad.

In addition to all those accolades, McDonald was also named to the All-Pac-12 team that includes 15 players from across the conference including her teammate at UA, Cate Reese. The sophomore from Texas is averaging 13.1 points per game for the Wildcats, which is only second to McDonald's 20.3 points, and is leading the team with 7.6 rebounds per game so far this season.

Thomas, who is averaging 9.7 points and 3.4 rebounds for the Wildcats, earned an honorable mention nod for the All-Pac-12 team.

Helena Pueyo earned an honorable mention spot on the Pac-12's All-Freshman team. The freshman guard is fourth on the team in scoring and is tied for the second-most made 3-pointers for the Wildcats this year.

UA lost to Cal on Sunday to drop to 23-6 on the season but was still able to secure a top-four seed in this week's conference tournament meaning UA will have a bye in the first round. The Wildcats will play Friday afternoon in a matchup against the winner of the battle between Arizona State and Cal at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.