COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), junior forward Bryce Frank of Austin College and senior guard Micah Weaver of Trinity University split the vote to share SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year honors while Austin College’s Michelle Filander was voted the league’s Coach-of-the-Year. Complete Release
In that same balloting, Colorado College freshman guard/forward McKenzee Gertz was selected the conference Newcomer-of-the-Year while Austin College senior guard Meghan Lewis was named SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
Frank, a four-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week selection, is currently second in the SCAC in scoring (18.0 points per game) and fifth in assists (3.3 per game), and leads the league in rebounding (10.5 per game), field goals made (183) and field goal percentage (54.0 percent). Her 14 double-doubles lead the SCAC and are tied for the sixth-most in a single season in the last 10 years. Her 31 double-doubles the last two seasons are the most in a two-year stretch since Trinity’s Krista Prato-Mathews had 32 between 2007-08 and 2008-09. The league’s leading rebounder the last two seasons and 719 career rebounds heading into this weekend, Frank is attempting to become just the fourth player in league history to reach 1,000 career rebounds. In a season of highlights, she was named the USBWA National Player-of-the-Week after leading the ‘Roos with 30 points and 15 rebounds in an 85-77 victory at Washington (Mo.) University – handing the Bears just their fifth home loss in the last six years. Frank is just the second player from Austin College to earn SCAC Women’s Basketball POTY honors, following Katy Williams who earned the honor as a senior in 2009-10.
A preseason All-America selection and four-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week, Weaver enters this weekend’s tournament as the league’s leading scorer, averaging 19.3 points per game. She stepped up her production to 20.4 points per game in conference play, making her the first player since Murphy Burns of Trinity in 2011-12 to average 20.0+ points per game in SCAC play. The senior also ranks in the top five in steals (2.8 per game – second), assists (3.4 per game – fourth), field goals made (176 – second), field goal percentage (51.8 percent – second), three-point field goal percentage (39.8 percent – fourth), and free throw percentage (80.6 percent – third). Among her highlights this season for the 22nd-ranked Tigers, Weaver put forth one of the best performances in Trinity basketball history as she poured in a career-high 42 points in the Jan. 20 victory over Austin College. In that game she tied Trinity’s single-game scoring record and became just the third player in school history to score 40 or more in a game. Weaver’s selection as POTY marks the fifth time in the last six years and seventh time overall a Trinity student-athlete has won or shared the honor.
Frank and Weaver, who are the last two SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honorees (Frank in 2015-16; Weaver in 2016-17), received four votes each from the coaches in the Player-of-the-Year balloting. It is just the second time in league history that the women's basketball Player-of-the-Year voting has ended in a tie - Murphy Burns of Trinity and Chelsea Leeder of Southwestern University shared the honor in 2012-13.
Gertz made her impact known immediately with nineteen double-digit scoring efforts and seven double-doubles on the season. Heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, she is seventh in the SCAC in points per game (13.3), fifth in rebounds per game (7.3), and is second in the league in both three-point field goals made (59) and three-point field goal percentage (41.0 percent). The freshman’s efforts across all categories in her first season helped her team to a fourth-place conference finish and the program’s first conference tournament appearance in five years. Gertz had a season-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting in a 71-69 victory over Southwestern on Jan. 19. Prior to that performance, she earned SCAC Player-of-the-Week honors with an 18-point, 16-rebound effort in a 65-57 victory at the University of Dallas on Dec. 16. Gertz is the first player from Colorado College to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors and just the second CC Tiger to win one of the league’s major post-season awards. Melanie Auguste was voted the league’s POTY following the 2008-09 season.
Gertz received four votes from the league’s head coaches in earning Newcomer-of-the-Year honors. First-year guard Emily Daniel of Trinity received two votes and junior guard Cami Davis of Texas Lutheran University and first-year guard Addison Walling of Austin College each received one vote.
Austin College’s Lewis leads the SCAC in steals – both in total steals (71) and steals per game (2.8) – heading into this weekend’s tournament action. Lewis was the team’s defensive anchor as the ‘Roos led the SCAC in scoring defense (58.5 points per game), field goal percentage defense (35.1 percent) and scoring margin (+14.6) and was second in rebounding margin (+4.2). The guard also chipped in with 3.2 rebounds per game and contributed on the offensive end with 6.2 points per game. Lewis is the second SCAC Women’s Defensive Player-of-the-Year selection from Austin College in the last three years. Katie Gowdy, who was the program’s first recipient, won the award in 2015-16.
Lewis received four votes in the balloting for the league’s Defensive POTY award. Senior forward Helen Onyenso of Dallas received two votes while sophomore guard Nia Duplain of Colorado College and senior Mollie Hughes of Trinity received one vote each.
Austin College head coach Michelle Filander has led the ‘Roos to a 20-5 overall mark, a 13-1 record in SCAC play and a share of the league’s regular season title for the second time in three seasons. With its victory over Centenary on the final day of the regular season, Austin College reached the 20-victory plateau for the first time since the 1998-99 season, and the team’s 13 conference wins are the most in program history since joining the SCAC in 2006-07. Since 2015-16, Austin College has gone 34-8 (.810) in league play – the second-best mark in the conference over that span – and Filander’s 62 SCAC career victories ranks ninth all-time in league history. In her eighth year at the helm of the AC program, the Coach-of-the-Year honor is the first for Filander and just the second for the women’s program since joining the SCAC. Deb Hunter was named SCAC COTY following the 2009-10 season.
2017-18 SCAC CO-PLAYERS-OF-THE-YEAR
Bryce Frank, Austin College, 6-2, Jr., Forward, Granbury, Texas
Micah Weaver, Trinity University, 5-8, Sr., Guard, Poth, Texas
2017-18 SCAC NEWCOMER-OF-THE-YEAR
McKenzee Gertz, Colorado College, 5-11, Fy., Guard/Forward, Fort Collins, Colo.
2017-18 SCAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Meghan Lewis, Austin College, 5-7, Sr., Guard, Waukesha, Wisc.
2017-18 SCAC COACH-OF-THE-YEAR
Michelle Filander, Austin College, 20-5 Overall / 13-1 SCAC / Regular season co-champs
2017-18 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
Bryce Frank, Austin College, 6-2, Jr., Forward, Granbury, Texas
Micah Weaver, Trinity, 5-8, Sr., Guard, Poth, Texas
Michelle DeCoud, Dallas, 5-11, Sr., Forward, Monument, Colo.
Abby Holland, Trinity, 6-0, So., Forward, Georgetown, Texas
Tori Carraway, Southwestern, 5-10, Jr., Forward, College Station, Texas
2017-18 ALL-SCAC SECOND TEAM
Casey Torbet, Colorado College, 5-7, Jr., Guard, Westminster, Colo.
Cami Davis, Texas Lutheran, 5-4, Jr., Guard, Marion, Texas
Meghan Lewis, Austin College, 5-7, Sr., Guard, Waukesha, Wisc.
Ann Savage, Austin College, 5-7, Jr., Guard, Tulsa, Okla.
Jordyn Villa, Schreiner, 5-6, Sr., Guard, Crawford, Texas
2017-18 ALL-SCAC THIRD TEAM
McKenzee Gertz, Colorado College, 5-11, Fy., Guard/Forward, Fort Collins, Colo.
Jasmine Morris, Centenary, 5-7, Jr., Guard, New Orleans, La.
Kendra Brown, Schreiner, 5-9, So., Forward, Red Oak, Texas
Emily Daniel, Trinity, 5-9, Fy., Guard, Georgetown, Texas
Mollie Hughes, Trinity, 5-11, Sr., Forward, Abilene, Texas
HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Ally Longaker (Fy., F), Addison Walling (Fy., G), Kacie West (Fy., G); Centenary – Savanah Doty (Jr., G), Bre Frierson (Fy., F); Dallas – Helen Onyenso (Sr., F); Southwestern – Zhazze Brown (So., G), Madison Edwards (Sr., F), Noel Pratts (Fy., F), Cecily Woolfolk (So., C); Trinity – Julia Ackerman (Fy., G)
Coaches voted for 15 places for All-SCAC with 15 points awarded for first-place votes, 14 points for second-place votes, 13 points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a 15th-place vote. All players not elected to the First, Second or Third Team, but who received at least one vote, were named Honorable Mention. Coaches could not vote for their own players.
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