CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference announced the All-MAC Teams and Specialty Award selections for the 2023-24 women’s basketball season today. All awards were voted on by the league's 12 head coaches, with coaches not being able to vote for their own student-athletes.
 
Toledo’s Sophia Wiard was named the Player of the Year, while Rockets Head Coach Tricia Cullop earned Coach of the Year accolades for the third consecutive season. Buffalo’s Kirsten Lewis-Williams was tabbed Freshman of the Year, while Ball State’s Nyla Hampton (Defensive Player of the Year) and Annie Rauch (Sixth Player of the Year) rounded out this year's specialty award selections.

Wiard is a three-time All-MAC point guard who earned first-team honors this season. She helped lead the Rockets to a 25-4 record this season and their third consecutive regular season MAC title with a 17-1 league mark. She averaged 14.9 points this season and ranked second in the MAC three-point field goal percentage (46.1%), third in assists (4.8), second in free throw percentage (87.3%) and first in assist/turnover ratio (2.40). She ranks ninth all-time at Toledo with 1,648 points and sixth in assists with 600. She is Toledo’s all-time leader in games played (152) and minutes played (4,746).

Cullop has been named MAC Coach of the Year conference-high tying six times in her 16 seasons as head coach of the Toledo women’s basketball team, including in each of the past three seasons. She has led the Rockets to five regular season MAC titles, including the last three in a row, and MAC Tournament Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2023. In her career at Toledo, Cullop’s teams have a record of 350-167. including 83-15 over the past three seasons. In MAC play, her teams have gone 194-88, including 52-4 over the past three seasons.

Lewis-Williams put together a fantastic rookie campaign, averaging 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 47% from the floor in 29 starts this season. She has scored in double figures 20 times, including three 20+ point performances, and is second on the team in scoring and third in assists (83). The Mooresville, N.C. native currently ranks 12th in the MAC in scoring and 17th in rebounding, which is ranks first and third, respectively, among all rookies in the league in those categories. She also ranks second in the MAC in free throw attempts (144) and third in free throws made (103).

For the second-straight season, Hampton has been voted the MAC’s Defensive Player of the Year while also being tabbed to the MAC All-Defensive Team for the fourth time. A forced to be reckoned with, Hampton ranks fourth in the nation in steals (104) and steals per game (3.35) while also leading the league in both categories. She has stolen the ball a career high eight times twice this season against Tennessee Tech (Nov. 6, 2023) and at Northern Illinois (Feb. 7, 2024).

Rauch has been a strong presence off the bench for the Cardinals all season long. One of Ball State’s go two post players recently scored her 1,000th career point as a Cardinal which was accomplished on her senior day March 2 against Eastern Michigan. Rauch is only the 18th player all-time in program history to have reached 1,000+ points and 500+ rebounds. Rauch has scored in double-figures 13 times this year including a season best 18 points at Chicago State (Nov. 14, 2023).

2023-24 MAC Women’s Basketball All-MAC Teams & Specialty Award Winners
Coach of the Year: Tricia Cullop, Toledo
Player of the Year: Sophia Wiard, Fifth-Year, Guard, Toledo
Defensive Player of the Year: Nyla Hampton, Junior, Guard, Ball State
Freshman of the Year: Kirsten Lewis-Williams, Guard, Buffalo
Sixth Player of the Year: Annie Rauch, Senior, Forward, Ball State
 
All-MAC First Team 
Ally Becki, Junior, Ball State, Guard
Chellia Watson, Redshirt Senior, Guard, Buffalo
Katie Shumate, Redshirt Senior, Guard, Kent State
Sophia Wiard, Fifth-Year, Guard, Toledo
Quinesha Lockett, Fifth-Year, Guard, Toledo

All-MAC Second Team 
Reagan Bass, Junior, Forward, Akron
Nyla Hampton, Junior, Guard, Ball State
Amy Velasco, Junior, Guard, Bowling Green
Morgan Sharps, Fifth-Year, Guard, Bowling Green
Kaitlyn Zarycki, Graduate, Guard, Western Michigan

All-MAC Third Team 
Madelyn Bischoff, Junior, Forward, Ball State
Erika Porter, Senior, Forward, Bowling Green
Jenna Batsch, Junior, Forward, Kent State
Brooke Stonebraker, Senior, Forward, Northern Illinois
Sammi Mikonowicz, Senior, Guard/Forward, Toledo

All-MAC Honorable Mention 
Kirsten Lewis-Williams, Freshman, Guard, Buffalo
Amber Tretter, Freshman, Forward, Miami
Jayden Marable, Senior, Guard, Northern Illinois
Jaya McClure, Sophomore, Guard, Ohio
Kennedi Watkins, Junior, Guard, Ohio

MAC All-Freshman Team
Kirsten Lewis-Williams, Guard, Buffalo
Paige Kohler, Guard, Bowling Green
Amber Tretter, Forward, Miami
Janae Tyler, Forward, Kent State
Bailey Tabeling, Guard, Ohio
 
MAC All-Defensive Team
Ally Becki, Junior, Ball State, Guard
Nyla Hampton, Junior, Guard, Ball State
Tayra Eke, Junior, Center, Eastern Michigan
Katie Shumate, Redshirt Senior, Guard, Kent State
Kaitlyn Zarycki, Graduate, Guard, Western Michigan