MAC Announces Women's Basketball Post Season Awards
CLEVELAND, OHIO -- For the first time in league history one school has swept the Coach, Player and Freshman of the Year honors as announced by the Mid-American Conference office today.
Bowling Green’s Kate Achter, Lauren Prochaska and head coach Curt Miller were recognized as this year’s Player, Freshman and Coach of the Year voted on by league coaches, sports information directors and media. This marks the second consecutive season that the Falcons have received at least two awards.
Joining Achter, Prochaska and Miller with specialty award recognition are Tiera DeLaHoussaye of Western Michigan as Defensive Player of the Year and Emily Maggert of Ball State as Sixth Player of the Year.
Achter is the fourth player in Bowling Green history to receive the MAC Player of the Year award. She was a four time East Player of the Week honoree this season and she holds the Bowling Green records in free throw attempts with 685 and free throws made with 524. She currently ranks fifth on the Falcon All-Time list with 1,529 points. Her 205 assists this season put her ninth on the MAC single season list. Along with teammate Whitney Taylor, Achter has won a MAC record (men and women) 106 games in her four year career.
Prochaska started in all 30 games her first year in a Falcon uniform. She was named the Cornell Classic Tournament MVP in December, becoming the first BGSU freshman to be named an in-season tournament MVP during the Miller era. She leads the conference in free throw percentage with 89 percent which ranks her eight nationally and she leads the MAC freshman with 443 points which ranks her 8th on the MAC Freshman Single Season scoring list. She ranks second on the team with 14.7 points per game and ranks first on the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
After losing nearly 6,000 points to last season's graduation, Miller went on to win another regular season crown making him the first coach in MAC history to win four consecutive MAC regular season titles and to win four consecutive MAC Coach of the Year honors. In his seven years as the Falcons mentor he has had five consecutive 20 win seasons and his 148 wins are the most for any Falcon head coach.
DeLaHoussaye led the MAC in steals for the second-straight season, averaging 3.4 per game, ranking 10th best in the country. She was able to convert those steals into points, dishing out a MAC best 7.8 assists per game, which ranks third best in the nation. At 5-6, DeLaHoussaye ranked in the top 10 in conference games in rebounds per game, pulling in 6.6 rebounds per game, averaging over four per game on the defensive end. Also Western Michigan's top scorer, DeLaHoussaye ranked in the top 20 in the conference, averaging over 12 per game. She is only the second person from Western Michigan to win this award and the first since 2003.
Maggert is the first Sixth Player recipient for Ball State. During the season she played in all 29 games as the top reserve for the Cardinals and has made four starts. She led the team in field goal percentage at 52.6 percent shooting which ranks fourth in the MAC She averaged 12.1 points per game against Mid-American Conference foes and is second in the MAC in shooting with a 59.1 percent field goal percentage. Her 268 points are the eighth most in a single season for a Ball State freshman and she scored in double figures in 15 games this season including 13 of the 16 MAC games. Had a streak of 10 straight MAC games in which she scored double figures. She scored career-high 24 points in her first career conference game at Western Michigan.
Joining Achter and DeLaHoussaye on the first team all-conference squad are Lauren Kohn of Ohio, Porchia Green of Ball State and Amanda Jackson of Miami.
Kohn started in all 29 games for the Bobcats where she leads her team with 16.3 points a game and ranks second in the conference. She also ranks 12th in the nation in free throw percentage with 87 percent. Green leads the Cardinals in scoring at 13.0 points per game and in rebounding at 7.0 boards per contest. She also leads the team in assists (133) and steals (48) and has logged 1,030 minutes so far this season which ranks second most for any Cardinal in a single season. She as scored in double figures 21 times this season, including 13 of the Cardinals’ 16 games in Mid-American Conference play. Jackson set nine school records this season. She is Miami’s all-time leading scorer with 1,903 points. She set Miami’s single-game scoring record when she scored 43 points vs. UTSA and she is ranked seventh in the nation with 21.9 points per game. She also set a Miami record for most 20 point games in a career (38) and season (19).
Joining Prochaska for second team all-league recognition are Stephanie Bennett of Buffalo, Whitney Lowe from Northern Illinois, Colleen Russell of Eastern Michigan and Jenna Schone of Miami.
Third team selections are Julie DeMuth from Ball State, Britni Houghton from Central Michigan, Anna Kowalska from Kent State, Laura Markwood from Miami and Kara Murphy from Akron.
The honorable mention quintet is Chenel Harris of Kent State, Alyssa Pittman of Eastern Michigan, Lisa Rusche of Ball State, Heather Turner of Buffalo and Tamesha Scotton of Toledo.
Also tabbed as the next wave of MAC stellar players ? the league’s All-Freshman squad. In addition to Harris, Maggert, Murphy and Prochaska, is Keyla Snowden of Akron.
The Kraft MAC Women’s Basketball Tournament begins tomorrow in Cleveland, Ohio at Quicken Loans Arena as East No.3 Ohio takes on West No. 6 Central Michigan at 7 p.m., while West No. 3 Western Michigan will face off against East No.6 Akron 30 minutes following the first game.
First Team
Kate Achter, Guard, Bowling Green
Tiera DeLaHoussaye, Guard, Western Michigan
Porchia Green, Guard, Ball State
Amanda Jackson, Guard, Miami
Lauren Kohn, Forward, Ohio
Second Team
Stephanie Bennett, Guard, Buffalo
Whitney Lowe, Forward, Northern Illinois
Lauren Prochaska, Guard, Bowling Green
Colleen Russell, Center, Eastern Michigan
Jenna Schone, Guard, Miami
Third Team
Julie DeMuth, Forward, Ball State
Anna Kowalska, Center, Kent State
Britni Houghton, Forward, Central Michigan
Laura Markwood, Guard, Miami
Kara Murphy, Guard, Akron
Honorable Mention
Chenel Harris, Guard, Kent State
Alyssa Pittman, Guard, Eastern Michigan
Lisa Rusche, Forward/Center, Ball State
Tamesha Scotton, Guard, Toledo
Heather Turner, Center/Forward, Buffalo
All- Freshman Team
Chenel Harris, Guard, Kent State
Kara Murphy, Guard, Akron
Emily Maggert, Forward/Center, Ball State
Lauren Prochaska, Guard, Bowling Green
Keyla Snowden, Guard, Akron
Coach of the Year: Curt Miller, Bowling Green
Player of the Year: Kate Achter, Bowling Green
Freshman of the Year: Lauren Prochaska, Bowling Green
Defensive Player of the Year: Tiera DeLaHoussaye, Western Michigan
Sixth Player: Emily Maggert, Ball State
