Women's Basketball Preseason All-MAC Team Announced

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Oct. 8, 2003

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CLEVELAND - Western Michigan's Casey Rost, a first-team all-Mid-American Conference selection from last season, and three others who captured second-team and honorable mention all-league honors highlight the women's basketball preseason all-MAC team, announced today by the league office. Members of the MAC News Media Association voted for the team.

For the second time, a ten-member squad is announced, consisting of five from each division. The preseason all-MAC East Division team is: Kent State's Andrea Csaszar, Miami's Colleen Day, Marshall's Catie Knable and Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, and Buffalo's Jessica Kochendorfer. Both Csaszar and Kochendorfer were preseason all-MAC picks a year ago.

In the West Division, the members are: Eastern Michigan's Ryan Coleman, Ball State's Johna Goff, WMU's Rost, Toledo's Kelly Walker and Northern Illinois' Jennifer Youngblood. Youngblood was a member on last year's preseason all-MAC team.

Csaszar, who was the 2002 Kraft MAC Women's Basketball Tournament MVP, missed all of the 2002-03 season following an injury. As a junior, she led the conference in field goal shooting (.550), was second in blocked shots (1.96) and sixth in scoring (15.0) en route to garnering second-team all-MAC honors. The junior from Hungary set a MAC Tournament record with 18 blocked shots; nine of which came against Miami in the semifinals.

Day helped the RedHawks a year ago claim the school's first-ever East Division crown, and in the process ended Kent State's run of five consecutive divisional titles. The senior from Independence, Ohio was second on the squad in scoring at 11.3 points per game and topped the team in rebounding at 6.4 caroms per contest, which was 13th in the conference. Day increased her scoring output during the latter part of the RedHawks' season, averaging 15.6 points over the final nine games while posting double digits in scoring in eight of the final 10 games.

Last year's MAC rebound champion, Marshall's Knable led the league averaging 9.0 boards per game en route to being named an honorable mention all-MAC selection. A native of Floyd Knobs, Ind., Knable also averaged 7.1 points per game and helped the Thundering Herd to win the program's first MAC tournament game, a win over Northern Illinois, that gave Marshall a quarterfinal berth in Cleveland. In a regular season victory over Ball State, Knable had 20 points and 15 rebounds, one of seven double-doubles produced on the season.

The Bulls' Kochendorfer led the team in blocked shots (40) and rebounds per game (7.2) while contributing 12.0 points per game. The senior forward from Allen, Mich., ranked in the top-10 in the conference in three statistical categories -- third in blocks per game (1.48 bpg), seventh in rebounds per game and 10th in field goal percentage (.455). Last year, Kochendorfer established career highs in points (28), rebounds (15) and blocked shots (7). The forward/guard is the league's fifth active returning scoring with 931 points and is 69 points from becoming the 13th Bull to score 1,000 points in her career.

Shepard-Hall exploded onto the scene for the Thundering Herd last year, averaging 15.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game as a freshman. Shepard-Hall led Marshall in scoring despite missing the first five games and finished eighth in the conference in scoring while her scoring average was also the eighth-highest nationally among freshmen. A member of last year's all-MAC freshman team, the Houston, Texas native averaged 18.0 points over her final 13 contests and tallied a season-high 27 points in a win over Central Michigan.

In her first year with the EMU program, Coleman led the team in scoring (14.4) and rebounding (6.8) from her guard position, with both averages ranking in the top-15 in the MAC. Coleman, who copped second-team All-MAC honors, scored a career-high 27 points and added 13 rebounds against Ball State. The Detroit, Mich., native also paced the team in blocked shots (16) and was fifth in the MAC with a team-best 71 steals (2.45 spg). Coleman also dished out 2.52 assists per game and finished the season ranking in the top-15 in the league in six statistical categories.

One of the top three-point threats in the league, Ball State's Goff led the MAC in three-point field goals per game (2.60) and was second on the team in scoring (15.0). Last year as a junior Goff was tabbed a second-team all-MAC choice after helping the Cardinals to a share of their second straight MAC West Division title. Against Missouri in the second round of the WNIT, Goff scored a season-high 32 points. That total was one of 24 double digit scoring outputs by the player from Fortville, Ind., and it was also one of seven 20-plus games by the guard. Goff returns as the league's career active leading scorer with 1,244 points which is also sixth all-time at BSU.

Rost, who along with her first-team all-MAC mention was tabbed the Kraft MAC Tournament MVP, is the league's leading returning scorer at 19.4 points per game. The junior guard from St. Johns, Mich., guided the Broncos, the fourth seed in the tournament, to their first MAC Championship since 1985 with a win over Ball State. Rost, who also led the league in free throw shooting (.903), set a school record with 622 points scored, and in 59 games she became the fastest WMU player to reach 1,000 points.

Like Goff, Toledo's Walker is also one of the league's top returning long distance shooters. Walker was 15th in the MAC last year in scoring at 12.8 points per game and finished third in the conference with 77 three-pointers, the fifth most in Rocket history. The Sterling, Mich., native was also sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.414) and over her final five games connected on nearly 50 percent of her shots from beyond the arc. In a win over Hampton last season, Walker tied a school record with eight three-pointers, part of a career-high 36 point performance. Her 30-plus game was one of 11 such outings last season in the MAC.

A second-team all-MAC choice for the second consecutive season, Northern Illinois' Youngblood topped Huskie charts in both scoring (13.5) and rebounding (8.3). Youngblood, who is from Rock Island, Ill., leads all active MAC players with 734 career caroms and finished last year fourth in the league in rebounds, while her points-per-game average was 13th. The forward was the only player in the MAC last year to rank in the top five in both field goal percentage (4th, .534) and free throw percentage (2nd, .886).

The preseason all-MAC team will be available for interviews at the conference's Basketball Media Day, which is slated for Wednesday, Oct. 22 at Gund Arena in Cleveland. The media portion of the event is set to begin at 3 p.m.