Four Saint Louis University women’s basketball players earned Atlantic 10 Conference postseason accolades, the league office announced today.
Freshman guard Ciaja Harbison was selected the A-10 Rookie of the Year and landed on the All-Conference second team. Senior guard Jordyn Frantz also garnered a second-team nod.
Senior guard Kerri McMahan was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Academic list. Freshman center Brooke Flowers joined Harbison on the All-Rookie team and McMahan on the All-Defensive squad.
Harbison is the first Billiken to be named A-10 Rookie of the Year, while McMahan is Saint Louis’ first Defensive Player of the Year in any of the four conferences in which the program has held membership.
SLU placed two players on the All-Rookie team for the first time and two players on the All-Defensive team for the first time. McMahan’s selection to the All-Academic team marks a fourth consecutive year a Billiken has earned inclusion in the five-player group.
The All-Conference teams are chosen by the league’s head coaches. A-10 women’s basketball sports information representatives select the All-Academic squad.
Harbison leads the A-10 in assists (4.5 apg) and ranks fourth in scoring (14.9 ppg) and minutes (36.4 mpg), fifth in free throw percentage (.847), sixth in steals (1.7 spg), seventh in assist-turnover ratio (1.12-to-1) and 12th in field goal percentage (.416). She has scored in double figures in 25 of SLU’s 30 games, including seven games with 20 or more points, and adds 3.8 rebounds per game.
Harbison was named A-10 Rookie of the Week 11 times, the second-highest total in conference history. She owns the Billikens’ single-season record for points by a freshman (446), and on SLU’s single-season lists for all players, is fifth in free throw percentage (.847), seventh in assists (136), eighth in free throws made (116) and tied for ninth in steals (51).
Frantz has a league-high and SLU senior-record 78 3-pointers, a total that ties for second on Saint Louis’ overall single-season chart. She is sixth in scoring (14.5 ppg), seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (.351) and minutes (35.8 mpg), and 12th in free throw percentage (.767) in the A-10, and she contributes 4.2 rebounds per contest.
Frantz has 20 double-figure scoring totals this season, including eight games with 20 or more points. Five of her eight 20+ performances came in A-10 play, helping her finish third in conference games only with 16.3 ppg. Frantz’s 215 career 3-pointers rank second all-time at SLU.
McMahan defends the top perimeter threat of SLU’s opponents, and her performance has paid dividends. The Billikens allow 60.8 points per game, their best mark since the 2012-13 season. Saint Louis yielded just 57.7 points per contest in A-10 play and held six league opponents to fewer than 55 points.
McMahan has made other valuable contributions, averaging career highs of 7.4 points and 4.0 rebounds, distributing 2.9 assists per game (13th in the A-10) and shooting a career-best 75.8 percent from the free throw line. She has boosted her offensive output down the stretch, averaging 10.8 points over the last nine games. McMahan ranked fourth in A-10 games only with a 1.59-to-1 assist-turnover ratio.
Flowers has risen to fourth in the A-10 with 8.2 rebounds per game, and her 8.0 scoring average ranks third on the team. She is second in the league in blocks (2.1 bpg), fifth in offensive rebounding (2.6 orpg) and ninth in field goal percentage (.430). In conference play, Flowers led the A-10 with 10.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per contest and was third in offensive rebounding (3.4 orpg).
Flowers’ 64 blocks are a SLU freshman record, third on the Billikens’ overall single-season list and 10th on the Saint Louis career chart. Her 247 rebounds rank second all-time among SLU freshmen and are tied for seventh on the Bills’ overall single-season list.
