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WOMEN'S PREVIEW: DePauw Tigers return NCAC’s top individual, freshman players
DePauw’s women’s basketball team made its 19th overall appearance in the national tournament last year, but dropped a 65-50 loss to Trine in the first round of the NCAA Division III national tournament.
The Tigers hold the second-longest active Division III streak with 15 straight tournament appearances dating back to 2004.
DePauw holds a 32-17 record in tournament play, including three semifinal appearances and national championships in 2007 and 2013.
The Tigers finished North Coast Athletic Conference play undefeated last year, but lost to Wittenberg in the tourney semifinals.
DePauw finished the season with a 25-3 overall mark and a sixth NCAC title in seven seasons in the conference with a 16-0 league record.
The Tigers return several players from last year, including senior guard Maya Howard, who earned numerous post-season honors for her outstanding play.
Howard earned honorable mention All-America honors from both D3hoops.com and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
The 2017-18 North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year led the Tigers with 15.2 points, 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game. She also shot 38.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 85.5 percent from the free throw line. Howard earlier was named D3hoops.com First Team All-Great Lakes Region.
A three-time all-NCAC player including first-team selections in 2017 and 2018, Howard was the D3hoops.com Great Lakes Region Newcomer of the Year in 2016.
Sophomore forward Claire Keefe of Libertyville, Ill., was the league’s Newcomer of the Year last year in voting by the conference’s head coaches.
Keefe’s 313 points this year are the most by any DePauw women’s basketball player in the first year of competition with the Tigers and she joins Howard as the only DePauw players to earn the NCAC Newcomer of the Year honor.
Keefe, an honorable mention all-NCAC choice last year, was second on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game and leads with 19 blocked shots. Her 11.6 pointers per game ranked third on the squad.
Junior guard Sydney Kopp also returns after joining Howard on the all-NCAC first team.
Kopp was the Tigers’ second-leading scorer at 12.3 points per outing and hit a team-high 48 3-pointers, while grabbing 5.4 rebounds.
Other top returners for the Tigers this season will be sophomore forward Hayley Cange, sophomore guard Emma Lemasters and junior guard Natalie Kehrt.
Cange averaged 2.8 points per game in playing a reserve role in all 28 games. She shot .485 from the field.
Lemasters played in 15 games, averaging 2.1 points and 0.6 rebounds per game.
Kehrt played in 27 games, averaging 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
The Tigers will open their season on Nov. 13 by hosting Augustana (Ill.).
