Missouri State’s Stokes named Valley Newcomer of the Year

MOLINE, Ill. – Drake’s Katie Dinnebier has been named the 2024 Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year presented by Great Southern Bank.  

Dinnebier is the ninth player in Drake history to win the award and the first since current staff member Becca Hittner won three in a row from 2018-20. She is also one of five national finalists for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award. Dinnebier is one of just two players in NCAA Division I this season to average at least 18.0 points, 6.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. Her exact scoring average of 18.1 ppg leads Drake this season and her 7.0 apg pace the entire MVC. Earlier this season, the Waukee, Iowa native logged the second triple-double in program history in a win at UNI with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. Dinnebier ranks within the top 10 nationally in multiple statistical categories including third in assists per game, fourth in total assists, and eighth in made free throws

Drake’s Anna Miller, the back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year, has been one of the premier defenders in the entire country this season. She leads the MVC and ranks eighth in NCAA Division I with 83 total blocks and 11th with 2.7 rejections per game. Miller also leads the MVC with 9.9 rebounds per game.  Miller is just the second player in Drake women’s basketball history to win the MVC Defensive Player of the Year Award, joining another two-time winner Sammie Bachrodt (2018, 2019). 

Missouri State transfer point guard Lacy Stokes was a nine-time MVC Newcomer of the Week honoree during the season, tying a league record. In league play, Stokes averaged 11.8 points, 4.95 assists, 2.65 steals and 2.9 rebounds per game. The Mount Vernon, Mo., native recorded 11 games with at least five assists, 12 games with three or more steals and 12 games with double figure points against MVC competition. The 2024 MVC Newcomer of the Year, Stokes ranked 2nd in the MVC in assists and steals per game in conference action. 

Selected as MVC Freshman of the Week six times during the regular season and chosen for the weekly conference award three-straight weeks in January, the MVC Freshman of the Year Belmont’s Jailyn Banks reached double figures in 17 of her first 24 collegiate games. Second on the team in scoring (12.7 PPG), Banks is one of only nine freshmen in the country averaging at least 12.5 points, 3.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. 

The 2024 MVC “Sixth Player of the Year,” Missouri State’s Kennedy Taylor was a big spark off the bench for MSU in conference play, averaging 11.0 points and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 52 percent from the field in 18.8 minutes per game. She also owned 14 double-figure scoring performances and six double-figure rebound outings in 20 league games. The junior forward finished the season ranked 3rd in field goal percentage and 10th in rebounds per game in The Valley in league action. 

The MVC “Most Improved Player,” Laniah Randle of Southern Illinois has had a historic jump for the Salukis in her junior year. Randle’s points-per-game average has climbed from 7.2 last year to 18.7 this year, which ranks top three in the Valley. The forward is also averaging career-high’s in rebounding (8.8), steals (2.2), and in total blocks (20).

Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman becomes the fourth coach in Drake women’s basketball history to collect the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year award and first since Jennie Baranczyk won back-to-back honors in 2017 and 2018. Pohlman is in her third season at the helm of the Bulldog women’s hoops program after a lengthy stint as an assistant coach. She has led Drake to a 68-29 record in her three seasons while guiding the Bulldogs to a 2023 MVC Tournament title, an automatic berth to the 2023 NCAA Tournament, and a 2023-24 Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship. Pohlman made history this season as the Bulldogs earned 20 wins for the third year in a row marking the first time in program history that a head coach has reached that mark in their first three seasons.