Fish, Evans headline; three Huskies named to All-NSIC teams
2/24/2022 9:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ST. CLOUD, MINN. - The St. Cloud State University women's basketball team was the one to beat in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) throughout 2021-22. It comes as no surprise, then, that four Huskies were honored by the conference early this morning, with three student-athletes garnering All-NSIC honors. Head Coach Lori Fish was named the NSIC Coach of the Year while senior guard Brehna Evans (De Pere, Wis. / West De Pere) was named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.Â
Joining Fish and Evans were Tori Wortz (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) and Nikki Kilboten (Eau Claire, Wis. / Eau Claire North), who were both named First Team All-NSIC Thursday morning. It marks the second consecutive year the trio of Wortz, Kilboten and Evans earned All-Conference honors, as Evans was also voted Second Team All-Conference by the NSIC head coaches.Â
Fish is the first coach in program history to be named the NSIC Coach of the Year and does so after leading St. Cloud State to a historic season on the hardcourt. In her 14th season at the helm, Fish guided the Huskies to their first NSIC Regular Season Championship since the 1983-84 season and their first NSIC North Division title since 2012-13. Additionally, St. Cloud State finished the regular season with the No. 1 ranked defense in the NSIC, holding opponents to an average of 55.2 points over the course of 24 games. The team also tied the program record for fewest single-season losses (3) entering the NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament, broke the program record for conference wins (19) since rejoining the NSIC in 2008-09 and received its first top-25 ranking since the 2004-05 season.Â
Evans becomes the first player in program history to repeat as the NSIC Defensive Player of the Year and was also named Second Team All-NSIC for her contributions on the court. As St. Cloud State's starting point guard, Evans led the NSIC in total steals (51) and ranked second in steals per game (2.4) in NSIC play, helping the Huskies close the regular season ranked No. 1 in the NSIC and No. 11 in the nation in scoring defense. She was a key part of the Huskies perimeter defense, which held opponents to .306 shooting from beyond the arc in 2021-22, and recorded a career-high nine steals in a win over Northern State on November 18. Offensively, Evans averaged 12.0 points per game in conference play and became the 34th player in program history to score 1000 career points in the final weekend of the regular season. She leads the team in total assists both overall (93) and in NSIC play (89) entering the conference tournament.Â
Like Fish and Evans, Wortz also achieved a "first" Thursday morning, as she's the first four-time All-NSIC honoree in program history. Already a two-time Second Team All-NSIC member, Wortz nabs her second First Team All-Conference award after a historic season for the Huskies. In her final season, the fifth year senior averaged a career-high 14.8 points per game during the regular season while shooting .412 from the floor and .339 from three point range. These numbers helped Wortz move to seventh all-time in career scoring and break the school record for both games played and career three pointers made. While her overall numbers are impressive, Wortz was even better in conference play, averaging 15.1 points thanks to her .415 shooting percentage. Wortz scored a team-leading 318 points in 21 NSIC games this season and added 85 rebounds, 56 assists, seven blocks and 27 steals to her statline.Â
Kilboten becomes a three-time All-NSIC honoree, as she earned First Team All-NSIC honors for the first time in her career with St. Cloud State. A two-time NSIC North Division Player of the Week award winner, Kilboten put up career numbers in 2021-22, averaging 13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game at the conclusion of the regular season. Her defensive numbers were equally as staggering, as Kilboten led the team and ranked fourth in the NSIC in blocks with 50 total. She became the 33rd player in program history to score 1000 career points in the second game of the season, and will graduate top-10 all-time in career rebounds and career blocks.Â
The four Huskies will open their NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament run on Saturday when they face Northern State in the quarterfinal round. Tip off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
