Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Three Salukis earn All-MVC honors
03/09/2016 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
MVC Release
ST. LOUIS - Southern Illinois women's basketball players Cartaesha Macklin, Dyana Pierre and Rishonda Napier earned All-Missouri Valley Conference First-Team honors, the league announced Wednesday.
For Macklin and Pierre it marks the third season that each have garnered all-conference laurels, while Napier was named to the All-MVC First-Team for the second consecutive season.
Macklin finished the regular season as the MVC's leader in free throw percentage (.898) in addition to ranking fifth in assists with an average of 3.5 per game. The Mayo, Fla., native led the Salukis in scoring 11 times this season, and has scored in double-figures 22 times this season. She also led SIU with an average of 1.3 steals per game, finished second on the team in assists (3.5) and third in rebounding (5.1).
Pierre becomes just the third player in Valley history to lead the league in rebounding in all four seasons, finishing the regular season with an average of 11.4 rebounds per game. Pierre joins Wanda Ford and Angela Buckner as the only three to ever accomplish that feat, and with her 12.6 points per game average becomes the first in the Valley since Wichita State's Antoinette Wells did so during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons to average a double-double in back-to-back seasons. The redshirt senior from Port St. Lucie, Fla., led the Salukis in blocks (1.3 per game), offensive rebounds (116) and defensive rebounds (168) despite missing five games, and garnered All-Defensive team honors for the second consecutive season. Pierre is just the second Saluki to repeat on the All-Defensive team, joining Kasia McClendon.
Napier was SIU's leading scorer with an average of 15.1 points per game, which ranked eighth in the MVC. The Burbank, Calif., native was SIU's leading 3-point shooter with 75 treys during the regular season, tied for the third-most in a single-season in program history. She finished first on the team, and fourth in the MVC, in assists (3.7), and also led SIU in 3-point field goal percentage (.366).
It marks the first time since the 1994-95 season that SIU has had three earn All-MVC honors in the same season and the first time in program history that the Salukis have had three earn First-Team All-MVC honors.
Missouri Valley Conference specialty awards for Player, Newcomer, Freshman, Defensive Player and Sixth Player of the Year will be announced, in addition to the league's Coach of the Year, at an awards ceremony in between Games 1 and 2 of the MVC Tournament on Thursday, March 10, at iWireless Center in Moline, Ill.
