MSOE's Cayo Headlines Women's Basketball Awards
The Northern Athletics Conference has announced the women's basketball awards for the 2011-12 basketball season, as voted on by the league's head coaches. MSOE's Carol Cayo led the All-NAC First Team and was named Player of the Year.
Additionally, Cayo was tabbed as Defensive Player of the Year, while Wisconsin Lutheran's Katelyn Kuehl was named Freshman of the Year. MSOE's Jessica Ott was voted Coach of the Year by her peers.
This marks Cayo's (Lake Mills, Wis.) fourth-straight all-conference honor, as she was named to the first team the last two seasons and the second team her rookie year. She averaged a double-double with 17.7 points and a league-leading 10.0 rebounds per game.
Cayo shot 52 percent from the floor and nearly 72 from the free-throw line, while defensively she averaged 2.4 steals and 2.2 blocks per contest. She completed her career as the NAC's all-time leader with 1,141 rebounds and become the first NAC player to surpass the 1,000-rebound milestone.
Kuehl (Fond du Lac, Wis.) has started in all 28 games for the NAC champions. The rookie guard averaged 9.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in her debut season for the NCAA tournament-bound Warriors (24-4, 17-1).
Ott guided the Raiders to the most wins in school history with a 17-10 record. Her team, which finished second in the NAC South Division, also had a school-record 11 conference victories (11-6) and reached the NAC semifinals for the first time. Ott also received the award after the 2008-09 season.
In addition to the All-NAC teams there is also five-member All-Freshman team. Below is a link to the complete All-NAC teams and awards.
Additionally the conference also acknowledged the All-Sportsmanship team honorees. The team included one student-athlete from each school that was chosen based on the principles of sportsmanship as promoted by the NAC and NCAA.
