Summit League Women's Basketball Awards

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Western Illinois' Emily Clemens was selected as The Summit League Women's Basketball Player of the Year in a vote of the league's nine head coaches, sports information directors and select media members.

South Dakota State's Clarissa Ober captured her second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year honor. South Dakota's Madison McKeever was named the Sixth Woman of the Year, while teammate Ciara Duffy took home the Freshman of the Year award. Regular season league champion Western Illinois was honored with Transfer of the Year (Morgan Blumer) and Coach of the Year (JD Gravina) awards.

Clemens becomes the fifth Western Illinois student-athlete to be named Player of the Year, while earning the sixth award overall for the Fighting Leathernecks. The junior guard led The Summit in scoring (18.6 ppg), assists (7.0 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (2.6) for league games during the year. She was also fourth in both free throw percentage (86.8) and steals per contest (2.1). A five-time Player of the Week recipient, Clemens collected seven double-doubles this season (three in league play) and led the league with seven double-digit assist games.

Ober was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season after ranking third in league games for blocked shots (1.5 bpg) and fourth in rebounds (7.3 rpg), including first in defensive boards (5.6). The senior center also added 11.5 points per game against league competition.
McKeever becomes the first South Dakota player to be named the league's Sixth Woman of the Year. The freshman guard averaged 7.9 points per game in league contests, while shooting 44 percent (44-of-101) from the field. She also added two rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals per league outing.
Duffy took home Freshman of the Year honors after averaging 10.4 points per game, second among all Summit League freshmen, while shooting 42 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range.

Blumer was named the Transfer of the Year after coming in second in league scoring at 18.2 per game. A two-time Player of the Week honoree, the junior was also third in three-point percentage (47.1) and fourth in overall field goal percentage (51.8)

Gravina captures Coach of the Year honors after guiding Western Illinois to its first regular season title (13-3) since 2005-06 after being selected sixth in the preseason poll. Gravina also led WIU to 23 regular season wins, including 13 at home, both program records.

Joining Clemens as first team All-Summit selections are teammate Blumer, South Dakota State's Madison Guebert (16.3 ppg, 48 3FGM) and Kerri Young (15.4 ppg, 3.9 apg), IUPUI's Danielle Lawrence (17.1 ppg, 2.0 spg) and South Dakota's Allison Arens (14.4 ppg, 90.6 FT%).
The five-player second team consisted of IUPUI's Mikale Rogers, Omaha's Mikaela Shaw, Oral Roberts' Faith Ihim, South Dakota State's Ellie Thompson and Western Illinois' Taylor Higginbotham. Honorable mention all-league went to Ober, IUPUI's Sydney Hall, Omaha's Michaela Dapprich, Oral Roberts' Maria Martianez and South Dakota's Abigail Fogg.
The Summit League's All-Newcomer team features Blumer, Dapprich, Duffy, North Dakota State's Sarah Jacobson and Western Illinois' Olivia Braun.

The Summit League Tournament begins Saturday, March 4, at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., and will be available across multiple platforms on Midco Sports Network and ESPN3. Eight teams will vie for the NCAA Tournament automatic bid, which goes to the winner of the championship game on Tuesday, March 7, on ESPNU at 1 p.m. (CT).

---

2016-17 ALL-LEAGUE AWARDS
First Team
Name, School	Pos.	Yr.
AllisonArens, South Dakota	G	So.
Morgan Blumer, Western Illinois	G	Jr.
Emily Clemens, Western Illinois	G	Jr.
Madison Guebert, South Dakota State	G	So.
Danielle Lawrence, IUPUI	G	Jr.
Kerri Young, South Dakota State	G	Sr.
Second Team
Taylor Higginbotham, Western Illinois	G	So.
Faith Ihim, Oral Roberts	F	Jr.
Mikale Rogers, IUPUI	C	Sr.
Mikaela Shaw, Omaha	F	Sr.
Ellie Thompson, South Dakota State	F	Jr.
Honorable Mention
Michaela Dapprich, Omaha	G	Sr.
Abigail Fogg, South Dakota	C	Sr.
Sydney Hall, IUPUI	G	So.
Maria Martianez, Oral Roberts	F	So.
Clarissa Ober, South Dakota State	C	Sr.
All-Newcomer
Morgan Blumer, Western Illinois	G	Jr.
Olivia Braun, Western Illinois	F	Jr.
Michaela Dapprich, Omaha	G	Sr.
Ciara Duffy, South Dakota	G	Fr.
Sarah Jacobson, North Dakota State	G	Fr.
Player of the Year
Emily Clemens, Western Illinois
Defensive Player of the Year
Clarissa Ober, South Dakota State
Sixth Woman of the Year
Madison McKeever, South Dakota
Freshman of the Year
Ciara Duffy, South Dakota
Transfer of the Year
Morgan Blumer, Western Illinois
Coach of the Year
JD Gravina, Western Illinois -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - (the following news release is from the University of South Dakota) Four Coyotes honored by Summit League Britni Waller, USD Sports Information SIOUX FALLS, S.D.–South Dakota sophomore Allison Arens was voted first-team All-Summit League, freshman Ciara Duffy was named Freshman of the Year and freshman Madison McKeever was named Sixth Woman of the Year as the Summit League released its women's basketball postseason awards on Thursday. Senior Abigail Fogg earned honorable mention accolades. The teams were selected by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media. A native of Crofton, Neb., Arens posted a breakout season to become the fourth Coyote named first-team All-Summit League. The sophomore took the leap from eight minutes on the hardwood as a true freshman to averaging 17 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 33 minutes this season. Arens ranks second in the league in both scoring and assists. Over the course of the season, she has tallied 23 double-figure games, a dozen 20-point games and a pair of double-doubles. Arens also broke the program record for free throws made in a single game when she sank 18-of-20 from the line against Denver. Only two-time NCAA Div. II Player of the Year Mandy Koupal has made more free throws in a single season than Arens. Duffy, a guard out of Rapid City, S.D., earned a spot on the All-Newcomer team in addition to being named the Freshman of the Year. Duffy handled the point while averaging 11.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists. She had 18 double-figure games and three 20-point contests. Duffy also ranks ninth in the league with 57 made 3-pointers. Duffy becomes the fourth Coyote named to the All-Newcomer team, joining elder sister, Caitlin Duffy, who was also named the Transfer of the Year last season. Without a change to the Coyotes' starting lineup from game one, McKeever has been a true sixth woman in providing a spark off the bench. A guard from Erskine, Minn., McKeever leads the Coyotes with 46 steals. She added 7.8 points and 2.0 assists per game. McKeever posted eight double-figure games during the season, including three of the final four. The freshman becomes the first Coyote to earn the Summit League's Sixth Woman award. Fogg, a center hailing from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, wrapped up the regular season on fire to earn the honorable mention nod. She has tallied seven consecutive double-figure games and averaged 15.5 points and 7.9 boards while shooting 60.3 percent in the second half of league play. Overall, Fogg has averaged 10.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game in her senior campaign. South Dakota is the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament being played in Sioux Falls March 4-7. USD will play Omaha in the first round at noon Sunday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.