HPU senior Meia Daniels has been named the State Farm/WBCA National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Player of the Year.
The Fort Worth, Texas native is averaging 19.7 points per game on the season, and she ranks third in the nation with 4.5 steals per game. She also leads her team with a 37.9 three-point field goal percentage and 101 assists. In her four-year carrer, Daniels has amassed over 2,000 points, 300 steals and 300 assists.
Her coach, Chris Kielsmeier, was named 2008 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Coach of the Year.
You may recall a previous post about Howard Payne and the builiding (well, you can't call it rebuilding) job Kielsmeier has done.
“When I first got here the program was in terrible shape," he recalled. "They hadn’t had a winning season in four years. The stands were almost an embarrassment. We would have 50 people at halftime. By the end of the game we might have a couple hundred coming in for the guy’s game because we played double-headers. Quite honestly, nobody cared about women’s basketball."
These days, though, Howard Payne averages 1,490 a game, making it Division III's top-drawing program.
The WBCA has also released the State Farm NCAA Division III State Farm Coaches' All-America Team:
Melissa Beyruti, Kean University, Jr.
Jordyn Boles. Hope College,Sr.
Meia Daniels, Howard Payne University, Sr.
Elizabeth Hickey, University of Mary Washington, Jr.
Lindsay Ippel. Millikin University, Sr.
Nikki Lobach, Messiah College, Sr.
Tarra Richardson, McMurray University, Sr.
Katie Streck, Wilmington College. Sr.
Marisa Vespa, William Smith College, Sr.
Katelyn Whiton, Simpson College, Sr.
A reminder, D-III holds its Final Four TONIGHT. Go here for audio/video.
As always, D3Hoops.com has features on the foursome:
Howard Payne: HPU looks to finish it.
With two minutes left in the NCAA tournament sectional final, the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets trailed top ranked Hope 49-47 in what had already been a great season for them.They had won the American Southwest Conference championship, finished an undefeated regular season and reached the Elite Eight, farther than any previous team. Losing to the number one team in the country would have been nothing to be ashamed of.
The thousands of fans in the Brownwood Coliseum would’ve been disappointed but still supported their Jackets. Looking up at those fans, hundreds of them wore a navy blue and yellow shirt with simple phrase.
“Finish it.”
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater: Senior class led Warhawk turnaround.
As freshmen, Trisha Thill and Lindsey Buechner finished 14-12 at UW-Whitewater and were under .500 in WIAC play at 7-9. That was in Keri Carollo’s third season as head coach at the school. As seniors, in Carollo’s sixth year, they were cutting down the nets on their home floor following an 83-80 sectional win over the defending national champions DePauw and have established a school record for wins with 28 entering the Final Four, but the Warhawks would like to add a few more wins to that total.
Messiah: Messiah's habits unbreakable
Miller credited his other seniors -- Amy Reed, Lauren Schurr and Gwen Avery, all starters who score between three and eight points per game, for taking control of the team when needed.“A few weeks ago, they saw that one of our younger players was discouraged and they immediately met with her,” Miller said. “They’re about the team, the program and leaving a legacy.”
Oglethorpe: Oglethorpe's road started in Springfield
Everything seems to have gone right over the last few weeks for the Stormy Petrels, whom Sattele jokingly referred to as "the Stormy Pigeons," the "Angry Seagulls" and "the Mighty Mites" during our conversation (we also read a reference to "Snowy Petrels" from earlier in the NCAA Tournament when the team won at previously unbeaten Thomas More a few hours after getting into a snowball fight with their coach).
Gotta say, D3Hoops peeps rock the house with their coverage. Hats off to them.
posted by Helen at 9:26 AM
