Four Schools Earn GLVC Women’s Basketball Postseason Awards

2/27/2018 2:23:42 PM

Lindsey Williams, Director of Communications

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INDIANAPOLIS – Lewis University junior forward Jessica Kelliher has been named the 2017-18 Great Lakes Valley Conference women's basketball Player of the Year, it was announced by the Conference office Tuesday. Drury University sophomore forward Daejah Bernard was selected as Defensive Player of the Year, Truman State University center Katie Jaseckas garnered Freshman of the Year honors, while Southern Indiana mentor Rick Stein was voted by his peers as the Chuck Mallander Coach of the Year. In addition, 30 student-athletes earned All-Conference honors and five were placed on the All-Freshman team with 15 named GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award nominees.

Kelliher, now a back-to-back Player of the Year and a record seven-time Player of the Week in 2017-18, led the league and the entirety of NCAA Division II in scoring for the year with a 25.3 points per game average while racking up the highest league shooting percentage at 67.4, which was second in the nation. She had an even better field-goal percentage in GLVC-only contests at 69.4 and also led the loop in blocked shots (25) and blocks per game (1.4). Her mark for field goals made (283) also ranked second in D-II. The junior eclipsed the 30-point plateau seven times this season, including twice recording 37, and had 12 double-doubles. She is only the third player ever to win the award twice in a row (Michelle Cottrell, NKU; Jessica Stuckman, QU) and becomes the fifth consecutive Flyer to earn the Conference’s top honor, as Mariyah Brawner-Henley picked up the same award for the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons, while Jamie Johnson was named GLVC Player of the Year in 2014-15. Now seven Lewis standouts have been voted as such. Furthermore, the six-foot forward picked up All-GLVC first-team distinction.

This is the third year the league has awarded a Defensive Player of the Year laurel, and Drury’s Bernard is the first Panther to win it. She was second in the league during GLVC games with 54 total steals and 3.0 steals per game. The sophomore also grabbed 52 defensive rebounds on the year and 89 total. Bernard additionally earned a place on the All-GLVC Third Team, while this is the first time the Panthers have had two major award winners selected in consecutive seasons after Hailey Diestelkamp picked up Freshman of the Year honors last year.

Jaseckas becomes the first-ever Truman player to win a major postseason award in the sport. She was fourth in the GLVC with 8.2 rebounds per game with an even better league-only mark of 9.2 (t-2nd) and ranked fifth in three categories, including field-goal percentage (56.3) and both offensive (73, 2.9) and defensive rebounds (5.3). The 6-foot-2 center scored a career-high 26 points against Illinois Springfield Feb. 24 and set a career-best for rebounding with 18 against Drury on Jan. 15, which was third-most in the GLVC for a single game. She also recorded the fifth-most double-doubles (seven) in the loop and fourth-most 10-rebound performances (11). All of her efforts were good for a spot on the All-GLVC Second Team, and she was the only unanimous member of the All-Freshman team.

Southern Indiana’s Stein picks up his third career Chuck Mallander Coach of the Year Award and second in a row – the first coming in 2000-01 – and is the second Screaming Eagle mentor to garner the distinction, which also happened to be a back-to-back selection for current Bellarmine University head coach Chancellor Dugan during her time at USI in 1996-97 and 1997-98. Stein has led his team to a 24-3 overall record with a 16-2 GLVC mark to earn the GLVC East Division title and No. 2 seed in the league’s postseason event. Additionally, the Eagles were ranked No. 14 at their highest, and are currently No. 17 in the WBCA Top-25 Coaches Poll. The squad is also third in the latest Midwest Region rankings behind just No. 3 Drury and top-ranked, undefeated Ashland. USI also holds the top spot in six GLVC statistical categories, including scoring defense (56.6), field-goal percentage defense (35.5), rebounds per game (39.96), rebound margin (6.4), blocked shots per game (5.0), and blocked shots (136). Additionally, the 19th-year mentor guided four players to All-GLVC recognition, including unanimous First Teamer Kaydie Grooms, first-team pick Morgan Dahlstrom and a pair of third-team honorees in Randa Harshbarger and Kacy Eschweiler. Rounding out the first-team contingent was Missouri-St. Louis’ Jordan Fletcher and Quincy’s Anika Webster.

Bellarmine’s Raven Merriweather and University of Indianapolis’ Martha Burse joined Grooms as unanimous choices, while Drury had a league-best three first-team selections, including Alice Heinzler, Heather Harman, and Diestelkamp.

The league also recognized Maryville as its GLVC Women’s Basketball James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award team recipient, as well as 15 student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The nominees are now eligible to become one of their school's two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.

A complete list of the 2017-18 GLVC All-Conference teams and postseason honors follow below.

 

Player of the Year Jessica Kelliher, Jr., F/C, LEWIS Defensive Player of the Year Daejah Bernard, So., G, DU Freshman of the Year Katie Jaseckas, C, TSU Coach of the Year Rick Stein, USI

First-Team All-GLVC Raven Merriweather, Sr., G, BU # Alice Heinzler, R-Sr., G, DU Heather Harman, Sr., G, DU Hailey Diestelkamp, So., F/G, DU Martha Burse, Sr., G, UINDY # Jessica Kelliher, Jr., F/C, LEWIS Jordan Fletcher, R-Sr., C, UMSL Anika Webster, Sr., F, QU Kaydie Grooms, Sr., G, USI # Morgan Dahlstrom, Sr., F, USI # unanimous selection

Second-Team All-GLVC Shelbi Patterson, Sr., G, UIS Destiny Ramsey, Sr., F, UIS Rachel Hinders, So., F, LEWIS Jordan Heberg, So., G, MCK Janie Arand, Sr., G, S&T Arielle Jackson, Jr., G, UMSL Shawnta Johnson, Sr., F, UMSL Jillian Myers, Sr., PG, RU Madeline Ronshausen, So., G, RU Katie Jaseckas, Fr., C, TSU

Third-Team All-GLVC Ali Ringering, Sr., G, MU Daejah Bernard, So., G, DU Lucia Fernandez, Jr., F, DU Kacy Eschweiler, Jr., F/C, USI Randa Harshbarger, Sr., PG, USI Rachel Edmundson, Jr., G, TSU Sloane Totta, So., G, TSU Ali Bettencourt, R-Jr., G, UWP Katie Finn, Sr., G, WJC Kayla Harrell, R-Jr., F, WJC

All-Freshman Team* Breia Torrens, PG, BU Payton Richards, G, DU Taylor Drury, F, UINDY Alex LaPorta, Fr., F, UMSL Julia Ruzevich, G, QU Katie Jaseckas, C, TSU Sydney Diekhoff, G, MCK *extra members due to tie

 
2017-18 GLVC Women’s Basketball James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award
Maryville

2017-18 GLVC Women’s Basketball James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Individual Award Nominees
Beth Bowers, BU
Heather Harman, DU
Destiny Ramsey, UIS
Martha Burse, UINDY
Dajae Black, LEWIS
Ali Ringering, MU
Callie Pohlman, MCK
Janie Arand, S&T
Sammie Sproul, UMSL
Anika Webster, QU
Kaci German, RU
Randa Harshbarger, USI
Ashley Hartwig, TSU
Hayley Maystead, UWP
Katie Finn, WJC