Drury, Lewis and Maryville Garner Top 2012-13 GLVC Women’s Basketball Awards

3/5/2013 12:00:00 PM

Jeff Smith, Assistant Commissioner

INDIANAPOLIS – Maryville University senior Abby Duethman has been named the 2012-13 Great Lakes Valley Conference women’s basketball Player of the Year, it was announced by the conference office on Tuesday.  Drury University newcomer Kalea Parks was tabbed as the league’s Freshman of the Year, while Lewis University mentor Lisa Carlsen was honored by her peers as the Chuck Mallander Coach of the Year.  In addition, 22 student-athletes were honored as All-Conference honorees, while 14 representatives were named to the conference’s All-Defensive Team due to ties.
 
Duethman is the first Player of the Year selection in Maryville’s brief tenure in the GLVC, but is the second Saint in as many years to take home a major postseason honor as Shelby Miller was named Freshman of the Year last year.  In 21 games played this season, Duethman netted 333 points to average 15.9 points per game, good for fourth in the conference this season.  A knee injury suffered during Maryville’s Feb. 14 home game against Rockhurst sidelined Duethman for the remainder of the regular season.  Despite not playing in the final five conference games, the Saints’ all-time leader in scoring (1,463) and rebounding (633) still garnered numbers worthy of Player of the Year honors as deemed by the league coaches.  The Kansas City, Mo., native paced the GLVC with 9.9 rebounds per game and was a 50 percent shooter from the field, having made 127 of her 254 attempts this year.  Duethman was also one of two unanimous first-team All-Conference selections this year as voted on by the coaches, which gave her the third consecutive All-Conference honor of her career.  She was a first-team selection last year and a third-team honoree in 2011. 
 
Parks was honored by the coaches as the league’s top freshman this season, after playing an integral role for the Panthers this season.  Having only started 16 of 27 games this year, Parks averaged 5.6 points on .451 shooting as well as 2.9 rebounds per game.  The Maywood, Ill., native increased her productivity during conference season though, as she started 12 of 18 GLVC contests and totaled 7.0 points and 3.4 boards, while shooting at a 50 percent clip in league play.  Parks is just the second Drury newcomer to be recognized by the league as Bethanie Funderburk was named Freshman of the Year in 2010-11.

Lewis’ Carlsen earns her first-ever Chuck Mallander Coach of the Year honor and is the fourth Flyer mentor to be recognized as the league’s top coach.  She is the first since Lynn Plett earned the top honor in 2006-07, while Lewis’ Kathy Kissinger was the only other Flyer to earn the accolades, which she did twice back in the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons.  Carlsen guided her ballclub to a share of the GLVC East Division crown this year and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Deaconess GLVC Championship Tournament.  Currently winners of five straight, the Flyers own a 21-5 overall record and a 14-4 conference mark, which includes an 11-3 stint within the East Division.  Three of Carlsen’s five starters earned postseason accolades as well, with sophomore Jess Reinhart being tabbed as a first-team All-GLVC selection, while seniors Sam Rinehart and Labrenthia Murdock were named to the second team.  Murdock was also an All-Defensive Team member this season.

Missouri S&T senior forward Hailee Parks joined Duethman as the only two first-team honorees to be unanimously named to the squad.  Parks finished the regular season ranked second in the conference in field-goal percentage (.522), fourth in rebounding (7.9), and 11th in scoring (14.0) .

In addition to Duethman, Hailee Parks and Reinhart, seven other players were named as first-team All-GLVC, which was divided equally to include five members from both the East and West Divisions.  A tie also expanded the All-GLVC second-team list, as did a four-way tie for the last spot on the All-Defensive team, which brought the total to 13 defenders on the list.

A complete list of the 2012-13 GLVC All-Conference teams and postseason honors follows.

Player of the Year:  Abby Duethman, Maryville
Freshman of the Year: Kalea Parks, Drury
Chuck Mallander Coach of the Year:  Lisa Carlsen, Lewis


All CAPS are Unanimous selections.