Pride women’s basketball boasts league-high seven 2022-23 All-Heart Selections
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second-straight season, the Clarke University women's basketball team had the most Heart of America Athletic Conference All-Conference selections for the 2022-23 season.
Each of the six players selected in the 2021-22 season received honors this season as the Pride would one-up that number to seven this season as Nicole McDermott (First Team), Tina Ubl (First Team), Emma Kelchen (Second Team), Skylar Culbertson (Second Team), Taylor Haase (Honorable Mention), Giana Michels (Honorable Mention), and Mya Merschman (Honorable Mention) all received All-Heart honors.
Led by McDermott's second-straight First Team selection and Ubl's first season on the First Team in her five seasons as the duo led CU in major stat categories with Ubl leading the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game, her best scoring average through a season since her sophomore season of 2019-20, and McDermott leading the team with a career-high 7.7 rebounds per game, nearly two rebounds per game better than the next best player on the Pride.
Ubl also shot 46.4 percent from the field, the best of any non-post player on the team, while also hitting 38.2 percent of her shots from three-point range as she also grabs 4.6 rebounds per game, as she also averages nearly two assists and steals per game, an assist to turnover ratio over one, and nearly a half a block per game.
McDermott nearly matched most of her 2021-22 stat averages in 2022-23 as a 44 percent shooter from the field, a 36.9 percent shooter from three-point range, and improving her free throw percentage to 81.1 percent, going over 80 percent from the charity stripe for the second time in her three seasons. On top of leading the team in rebounding, McDermott also finished the season at 2.7 assists per game and 1.6 steals per game in 27.8 minutes per game.
Kelchen's Second Team selection follows up a jump from Honorable Mention in 2020-21 to First Team in 2021-22 as the senior nearly matched her stats from last season as her shooting percentage only dipped from 51.5 to 50.9 and her points per game went from 12.9 to 11.9 from last season to this season as her main offensive shifts. Kelchen improved from beyond the arc and the free throw line shooting 25 percent from deep and 77.9 percent on free throws. Finishing the regular season at 5.4 rebounds per game, a career-high 1.4 assists per game, and 0.7 blocks per game, Kelchen also played two less minutes per game this season than she did in the 2021-22 season.
Culbertson received Heart Second Team honors for the first time in her career as the senior point guard reached career-highs in assists per game, at 5.1, rebounds per game at 5.6, steals per game at 1.5 and free throw percentage at 61.4. The true point guard with a pass-first mentality saw her points per game average near the best of her career as she ended the regular season at 5.0 points per game, nearing her previous best of 5.1 from the 2020-21 season.
Haase marks the fourth member of the Pride averaging double figures in scoring at 10.4 points per game for her second-straight Honorable Mention selection. Clarke's first call of the bench most games, Haase averaged a career-high 17.4 minutes per game as her shooting percentage finished at 47.4 percent while ending the regular season with a career-high 5.1 rebounds per game and improved her rim protecting ability with a career-high 0.6 blocks per game.
Michels recovered well from offseason surgery to her right shoulder, her shooting shoulder, as she consistently climbed her scoring averaged to 8.6 points per game at the top of all non-double figures scorers. The senior shot near her career averages at 38.3 from the field and 31.3 from three-point range in over four minutes per game less than her 2021-22 team-leading average that was over 30 minutes per game. Michels finished her season with six of her final 10 games scoring in double figures including two of the other four being nine-point performances.
The new addition to the All-Heart party for the Pride is sophomore Mya Merschman who established herself to be a true scoring threat off the bench for Clarke with a near three-point boost in her scoring average from her freshman season to end the regular season at 8.4 points per game on 43.6 percent shooting from the field, 39.5 percent shooting from deep, and 88.5 percent from the free throw line, all improvements from year one to year two. Merschman also had a strong offensive ending to her season also scoring in double figures in six of the last 10, including a career-high 22 points at home against the NAIA's new No. 1 ranked team Central Methodist on Feb. 4.
For the full Heart release click here: https://heart.prestosports.com/sports/wbkb/2022-23/releases/20230222krvceo
Along with the season totals and averages, Kelchen, McDermott, and Michels all reached the 1,000-point mark in their careers, Ubl has moved to second place in the all-time scoring list at Clarke, and Culbertson is 22 assists away from becoming the program's all-time leader in assists.
Pride women's basketball will host the quarterfinals of the Heart Tournament in an hour as they host the No. 7 seed in the conference in Evangel University in the Kehl Center for a 2:00 p.m. CT scheduled tip.