Draper, Waite Earn MVC All-Freshman Honors

Bradley has produced a league-high six MVC All-Freshman awards in the last six years

2022 WBB MVC All Freshman Abbie Draper Caroline Waite

2021-22 All-MVC Announcement

Bobby Parker, Sr. Associate AD for Communications and Event & Facility Operations Women's Basketball 3/9/2022 9:02:00 AM

ST. LOUIS – For just the second time in program history and the first time since 2001-02, Bradley has placed two student-athletes on the five-player Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball All-Freshman Team, according to a release of the 2021-22 All-MVC teams by the league office Wednesday morning.

Forward Abbie Draper (Waverly, IA/Waverly-Shell HS) and guard Caroline Waite (Ames, IA/Ames HS) join the Drake duo of Katie Dinnebier and Anna Miller, as well as Indiana State forward Arianna Smith, on the MVC All-Freshman Team. Bradley now has been represented on the league's All-Freshman Team for the fifth time in six years and the six Braves recognized since 2016-17 are the most of any team in The Valley the last six years.

Draper was Bradley's third-leading scorer (7.1 ppg) and rebounder (4.1 rpg) during conference play and her league scoring average ranked fifth among the league's freshmen. Following the injury to senior Gabi Haack, Draper notably stepped up her game from the non-conference season into league play and her scoring increase from 3.2 ppg in nine non-league games to 7.1 ppg in Valley action was the sixth-best jump in The Valley this season and was the largest increase among the league's freshmen.

Waite completed the regular season as The Valley's top-scoring underclassman and her scoring average of 13.1 ppg currently ranks seventh in the league. The only freshman or sophomore to rank among the league's top 22 scorers, her position among The Valley's top scorers is the best by a freshman since 2013-14 (Evansville's Sara Dickey, 2nd) and she is in position to become just the fifth freshman in Bradley history to lead the Braves in scoring. Waite also leads all Valley players by averaging 2.88 3-point field goals per game, which is the second-best average among the nation's freshmen.

Draper and Waite were Bradley's lone honorees among The Valley's all-conference awards, which were voted upon by the league's 10 women's basketball head coaches, sports information directors, radio play-by-play voices and selected media members.

Bradley senior guard Tatum Koenig (West Branch, IA/West Branch HS) was left off the 17-player All-MVC teams (11 first-team and six honorable mention) despite ranking fifth in The Valley in scoring (14.6 ppg) during league play, second in assists (4.1 apg), fourth in 3-point field goals per game (1.8), eighth in 3-point field goal percentage (.355) and first in minutes played. She is the first student-athlete to rank among The Valley's top five scorers in conference play to not earn all-conference honors since 2016.

The 5-foot-7 guard had averaged 6.7 ppg during the first 97 games of her career and ranked 39th among this season's league scoring leaders at 7.0 ppg when Haack suffered her season-ending injury Jan. 1 at Illinois State. No player in The Valley stepped up her game more during the league season: Koenig averaged 14.8 ppg after Haack went down and climbed 25 spots on the league's overall scoring list to 14th at 12.1 ppg for the season. Her scoring increase of 7.6 ppg from the non-conference season (7.0) to league play (14.6) is the best in Bradley history and the best of any player in the league this year.

Bradley will open the postseason Thursday (7 p.m.) by facing Drake in the second opening-round game of the Hoops in the Heartland MVC Women's Basketball Championship Thursday night at TaxSlayer Center in Moline, IL. The Valley will conduct its annual women's basketball awards ceremony, including the announcement of seven individual specialty awards, on the court at TaxSlayer Center Thursday night in between the two first-round games.

The winner of the Bradley/Drake game will take on No. 2 seed Missouri State in Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal game at TaxSlayer Center.

Print Friendly Version