MOLINE, Ill. – Three Missouri State Lady Bears collected Missouri Valley Conference postseason honors, highlighted by Jade Masogayo taking home MVC Freshman of the Year, the league announced tonight.Masogayo, Aniya Thomas and Kennedy Taylor each received conference honors at the 2023 MVC Awards Banquet here Wednesday.Masogayo, who was also named to the MVC All-Freshman Team, becomes the seventh Lady Bear in program history to receive MVC Freshman of the Year and the first Lady Bear to win the award since 2010. Previous winners of the award from MSU include: Roshonda Reed, Jackie Stiles, Jenni Lingor, Kari Koch, Casey Garrison and Christiana Shorter.The 6-3 forward is one of two freshmen in NCAA Division I averaging at least 7.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.4 blocks per game this season. She is the only freshman in NCAA Division I this season and just one of eight players in all of NCAA DI to post at least 19 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and three blocks in a single game with her performance against Murray State on Feb. 17, according to HerHoopStats.Masogayo also ranks ninth in program history in single-season blocks with 42 on the year, while ranking inside the top 75 nationally in blocks and blocks per game (1.45). In conference action, Masogayo averaged 9.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 54 percent from the field.Thomas received three conference honors, as she was named to the All-MVC second team and to the MVC All-Defensive and All-Newcomer teams.Thomas led the way for Missouri State in MVC play with 16.5 points per game, 82 assists (4.1/game), 40 steals and 26 three-point field goals. The fifth-year senior ranks second in The Valley with 2.1 steals per game and third with 4.2 assists per game, while ranking 77th and 94th nationally in the those categories, respectively. She was named MVC Newcomer of the Week twice this season.Earlier this season, Thomas became the fourth Lady Bear in program to post a double-double with at least five assists and five steals with her performance at Evansville on Dec. 29, and surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career on Nov. 17 against Oklahoma State. The Duncanville, Texas, native has tallied a team-leading seven 20-point outings and 25 double-figure scoring performances in 29 games, while leading the Lady Bears in assists 19 times and in steals 15 times on the year.Finally, Taylor was named to the All-MVC third team and MVC All-Newcomer Team in her first season as a Lady Bear.Taylor nearly averaged a double-double against MVC competition this season with 13 points and a team-leading 9.2 rebounds per game against Valley foes. She leads the Lady Bears with 10 double-doubles and 13 double-figure rebound games on the year, and has led the team on the boards in 15 games this season. The sophomore was also named MVC Newcomer of the Week four times this season, which tied for the league lead.The Shawnee Mission, Kan., native recorded the first 25-point, 15-rebound, six-assist game by an MVC player since March 4, 2010 and is one of only two players in NCAA DI to post that stat line this season with her performance against UIC on Feb. 4. Taylor tops the MVC and ranks 19th nationally with 3.8 offensive rebounds per game, while ranking second in the conference and 93rd in the nation in total rebounds per game at 8.3.Missouri State (19-10) enters the MVC Championship in Moline, Ill., as the No. 5 seed. The Lady Bears will take on No. 12 Bradley in game two of the conference tournament tomorrow (March 9) at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will stream on ESPN+.
