MAC Women's Basketball All-League Selections Announced
March 10, 2003
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CLEVELAND -- Three first-team all-conference players from last season highlights the five-person all-Mid-American Conference women's basketball first-team, which was announced today by the league office. The league will formally present the student-athletes with their awards Tuesday evening at the league's tournament Tip-Off Banquet at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade in Cleveland. Voting on the team was conducted by the league's head coaches.
Ball State's Tamara Bowie earned first-team honors for the third straight season and Western Michigan's Kristin Koetsier garnered first-team honors for the third time in her career and the second consecutive season. Last year's MAC Player of the Year Miami's Heather Cusick was tabbed to the first team in each of the last two campaigns, while Toledo's Tia Davis and WMU's Casey Rost were named for the first time in their careers.
Bowie, the MAC Player of the Year in 2001 and one of only six players in MAC history to be named first-team all-MAC at least three times, helped guide the Cardinals to a share of their second straight MAC West Division title as well as a share of the program's second consecutive MAC regular season title. The Lansing, Mich., native led the league during the regular season in scoring, averaging 20.7 points a game, and also topped the charts in conference-only games in scoring (20.5). Bowie, a senior forward, also paced the league in blocked shots (1.92), was second in rebounding (8.8) and field goal percentage (.563). She also ranked 10th in steals (1.92). In addition, Bowie posted 20 or more points in a game 14 times during the regular season, while also pouring in 30 or more points twice. Bowie also led the MAC in double-doubles with 10 during the regular season. Entering the quarterfinals of the Kraft MAC Women's Basketball Tournament, Bowie is nine points shy of becoming the seventh women's player in league history to score 2,000 points in their career and is one rebound shy of 900.
For the fourth time in her career, Miami's Cusick was named to one of the league's all-conference teams, the past two seasons as a
member of the first team. The Kokomo, Ind., native guided the RedHawks to their first-ever East Division title after averaging 16.1 points, 4.96 assists and 3.15 steals a game during the regular season, to rank in the top three in each category in the conference. The school's all-time leading scorer, Cusick became the fourth player at Miami -- and the first women's player -- to register 1,700 career points in Miami's regular season finale against Marshall. Cusick, who nabbed honorable mention all-MAC laurels in her first two years as a RedHawk, ranks in the top-10 in MAC history in three-pointers (5th with 226), steals (8th with 302) and assists (9th with 590).
Davis is Toledo's 19th first-team all-MAC selection, and was one of the league's top scorers before going down with a ruptured patella tendon in her left knee against Western Michigan on Feb. 5. Prior to her injury, she ranked in the top-five in the MAC in scoring (18.1) and rebounding (7.1). A high school teammate of Miami's Cusick, the Kokomo, Ind., native led the Rockets in scoring in 16 of the 20 games she played in as well as pacing the squad eight times in rebounding.
Western Michigan's Koetsier is named to the first team despite missing eight games in the middle of the conference season with a knee injury. The junior forward from Grandville, Mich., is second on the Broncos in scoring averaging 17.6 points per games while pulling down 6.5 rebounds per contest. Eight times she led the Broncos in scoring, including a 33-point outing against Cleveland State. That total was the third-most scored by a MAC player this season.
Rost, a guard from St. Johns, Mich., is the fourth sophomore in as many years to be named to the first-team all-MAC. A teammate of Koetsier, Rost averaged 19.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during the regular season. She has matched her three-point field goal output from a year ago with a league-leading 69 made treys. Rost topped the WMU chart in points scored 14 times in 2002-03, including six of the eight games that Koetsier missed. She ranked second in the MAC in free throw percentage (.889), fourth in steals (2.63) and seventh in field goal percentage (.488).
Named to the all-MAC second team are Eastern Michigan's Ryan Coleman, Ball State's Johna Goff, Buffalo's Kate
McMeeken-Ruscoe, Kent State's Jamie Rubis and Northern Illinois' Jennifer Youngblood. This is the second straight season that Youngblood has been named to the second team, while the other four garnered all-conference accolades for the first time (other than freshman honors).
The honorable mention all-MAC team includes a pair of repeat members from a year ago -- Eastern Michigan's Abby Wiseman and Kent State's Valerie Zona. Also named to the team are Ohio's Latreece Bagley, Marshall's Catie Knable, Kent State's Katalin Kollat, Akron's Cassandra Martin and Bowling Green's Francine Miller.
Occupying the five-member all-freshman team are Ball State's Dana Collins, Eastern Michigan's Nikki Knapp, Central Michigan's Erin Kuhl, Northern Illinois' Joi Scott and Marshall's Sikeetha Shepard-Hall.
Ten of the this year's 17-member all-MAC team are seniors, while one sophomore and a pair of second-year players occupy the first- and second-team all-conference squads, respectively.
A complete list of all three all-MAC teams, along with the all-freshman team, follows. The league's specialty awards -- Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and the inaugural Sixth Man award -- will be announced Tuesday evening coinciding with the MAC's Tip-Off Banquet, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade.
2003 All-MAC Women's Basketball Team
First Team
Name School Pos. Yr. Hometown (High School/College)
%&#§Tamara Bowie Ball State F Sr. Lansing, Mich. (Sexton HS)
%+!§Heather Cusick Miami G Sr. Kokomo, Ind. (Kokomo HS)
Tia Davis Toledo G Sr. Kokomo, Ind. (Kokomo HS)
%@§Kristin Koetsier Western Michigan F Jr. Grandville, Mich. (Grandville HS)
≠Casey Rost Western Michigan G So. St. Johns, Mich. (St. Johns HS)
Second Team
Name School Pos. Yr. Hometown (High School/College)
Ryan Coleman Eastern Michigan G So. Detroit, Mich. (Commun. & Media Arts HS)
$Johna Goff Ball State G Jr. Fortville, Ind. (Mount Vernon HS)
Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe Buffalo G Sr. Nelson, New Zealand (Hawaii)
£Jamie Rubis Kent State F Sr. North Canton, Ohio (Hoover HS)
*+$Jennifer Youngblood Northern Illinois F So. Rock Island, Ill. (Rock Island HS)
Honorable Mention
Name School Pos. Yr. Hometown (High School/College)
Latreece Bagley Ohio F Jr. Dayton, Ohio (Dunbar HS)
Catie Knable Marshall F/C Jr. Floyd Knobs, Ind. (Assumption HS)
Katalin Kollat Kent State F Sr. Varpalota, Hungary (Petofi Sandor)
Cassandra Martin Akron C Sr. Struthers, Ohio (Struthers HS)
^@£Francine Miller Bowling Green G Sr. Kalida, Ohio (Kalida HS)
¢Abby Wiseman Eastern Michigan F/C Sr. St. Johns, Mich. (St. Johns HS)
¢Valerie Zona Kent State G Sr. Cranberry, Pa. (West Virginia Univ./Seneca Valley HS)
All-Freshman Team
Name School Pos. Hometown (High School)
Dana Collins Ball State G Indianapolis, Ind. (Decatur Central HS)
Nikki Knapp Eastern Michigan F Blue Springs, Mo. (Blue Springs North HS)
Erin Kuhl Central Michigan G Rochester Hills, Mich. (Adams HS)
Joi Scott Northern Illinois F Reynoldsburg, Ohio (Reynoldsburg HS)
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall Marshall G Houston, Texas (Lutheran North HS)
%First-team all-MAC team in 2001-02
*Second-team all-MAC team in 2001-02
¢Honorable mention all-MAC in 2001-02
≠All-freshman team in 2001-02
&First-team all-MAC in 2000-01
^Second-team all-MAC in 2000-01
+Honorable mention all-MAC in 2000-01
$All-freshman team in 2000-01
@First team all-MAC in 1999-2000
#Second team all-MAC in 1999-2000
!Honorable mention all-MAC in 1999-2000
§All-freshman team in 1999-2000
£All-freshman team in 1998-99
