Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

Minnesota-Morris headlines 2011 UMAC women's basketball awards

2/24/2011 11:51:40 AM

ST. PAUL -- All eight Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) institutions were represented in the conference’s women’s basketball postseason awards, which were announced at halftime of Wednesday’s UMAC Tournament semifinal games. The University of Minnesota, Morris, who won the UMAC regular season championship for the second consecutive year, boasted four individuals amongst the first, second and honorable mention teams. Northland College followed with three representatives on the all-conference lists.

The five individuals to make up the UMAC All-Conference First Team were Bethany Lutheran College’s Jessica Englund, Martin Luther College’s Erica Babinec, Northwestern College’s Katie DeWitt, Presentation College’s Nicky Rausch and the University of Minnesota-Morris’ Steph Roggenbuck. Babinec, DeWitt and Roggenbuck are all repeat first-teamers, having been named to the UMAC’s top five players last season.

Roggenbuck was chosen as the UMAC Player of the Year after a standout senior season. The third-year Cougar averaged 18.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per conference game while making just under 53 percent of her field goal attempts. The 5-11 forward can shoot too, as evidenced by her 44 percent mark from behind the three-point line. Roggenbuck’s coach, Tim Grove, was named the conference’s coach of the year for the second straight season after the Cougars went undefeated in UMAC play with a 14-0 record. In the last two years, Morris has gone 27-1 in league games.

The College of St. Scholastica’s Kayla Heisler and Northwestern’s Mollie Sir were named the UMAC Co-Freshmen of the Year. Both players averaged 10 points per game or more in UMAC affairs while being two of the conference’s best three-point shooters.

Following Minnesota-Morris and Northland’s four and three individual awards was Bethany Lutheran College, St. Scholastica, Martin Luther and Northwestern, who each had two accolades.

In addition to the all-conference awards, the UMAC also announced its all-defensive team on Wednesday night. Bethany Lutheran’s Nicole Jones, St. Scholastica’s Laura Amys, Martin Luther’s Babinec, Presentation’s Rausch and Minnesota-Morris’ Jenni Noordmans were recognized by the league’s coaches as the best defensive players in the conference.

A full listing of the 2010-11 UMAC postseason awards is below.

1st Team All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Jessica Englund	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Center
Erica Babinec	Martin Luther College	Junior	Guard
Katie DeWitt	Northwestern College	Senior	Forward
Nicky Rausch	Presentation College	Senior	Guard
*Stephanie Roggenbuck	University of Minnesota-Morris	Senior	Forward

2nd Team All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Nicole Jones	Bethany Lutheran College	Senior	Guard
Bri Allen	College of St. Scholastica	Sophomore	Guard
Laura Fisher	Northland College	Senior	Forward
Maria Mackey	Northland College	Junior	Guard
Brandi Cresap	University of Minnesota-Morris	Senior	Guard

Honorable Mention All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year	Position
#Kayla Heisler	College of St. Scholastica	Freshman	Guard
Judy Mundt	Crown College	Sophomore	Guard
Sarah Free	Martin Luther College	Junior	Guard
Lulu Seelye	Northland College	Junior	Guard
#Mollie Sir	Northwestern College	Freshman	Guard
Emily Mehr	University of Minnesota-Morris	Sophomore	Forward
Tara Thielke	University of Minnesota-Morris	Senior	Guard

All-Defensive Team
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Nicole Jones	Bethany Lutheran College	Senior	Guard
Laura Amys	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	Forward
Erica Babinec	Martin Luther College	Junior	Guard
Nicky Rausch	Presentation College	Senior	Guard
Jenni Noordmans	University of Minnesota-Morris	Senior	Guard