Exactly one week ago, the ASC basketball tournaments wrapped up, and along with it, the seasons for the UMHB men’s and women’s basketball teams.
On Tuesday, we released our polls for True To The Cru’s Basketball Players of the Year and on Sunday evening, the results were finalized. The voting was decided by both the fans and our group of media voters.
Before getting into the winners of our first-ever Player of the Year awards, it is important to note that each of these candidates was deserving of the honor, and that we have a high level of respect for each of them. It takes an entire team to win games as the Crusaders did this past season, and each and every one of them played a role in that success.
For our Offensive Players of the Year, sophomore guard Josiah Johnson earned the honor on the men’s side, picking up 84 percent of the vote, while sophomore forward Hannah Eggleston won the award on the women’s side.
Johnson led all D3 scorers (min. 3 games played) with an average of 29.3 points per game, and also dished out 3.0 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game.
Eggleston finished the regular season with a 31-point outing against Howard Payne, and followed it up by scoring 20 in the ASC Tournament semifinal win over Hardin-Simmons and 17 in the ASC Championship game victory over ETBU. The Magnolia, Texas native averaged 9.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
On defense, senior wing Aedan Welch took home the Player of the Year award for the men’s team, as the Liberty Hill, Texas native earned 49 percent of the vote. Ty Prince picked up 29 percent and Johnson came in third at 21 percent.
Welch had 18 blocks, 15 steals and 115 defensive rebounds in his final season at UMHB.
Graduate student Taylor Kollmorgen, in her first and only year as a Crusader, earned the honor on the women’s side, as she defended the post with poise. The Houston, Texas native had 60 percent of the vote, and tallied 13 steals, 17 blocks, 102 defensive rebounds.
In the Freshman of the Year category, a very close race was witnessed on the women’s side between Kaitlyn Kollmorgen, Ashley Faux and Cheyanne Bonilla. The trio all received significant numbers of votes, though Faux earned the honor as she picked up 39 percent of the vote. Bonilla earned 32 percent, and Kollmorgen had 28 percent.
Faux, a forward, averaged 4.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game this past season.
Gibson Hearne had 84 percent of the vote on the men’s side, and earned the title after stepping into a starting role towards the end of the season. The Cisco, Texas product averaged 6.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
Men’s Basketball:
Offensive Player of the Year: Josiah Johnson
Defensive Player of the Year: Aedan Welch
Freshman of the Year: Gibson Hearne
Women’s Basketball:
Offensive Player of the Year: Hannah Eggleston
Defensive Player of the Year: Taylor Kollmorgen
Freshman Player of the Year: Ashley Faux
