Osthus named Defensive Player of the Year, Cheeseman and Carr tabbed to GPAC First Team
MITCHELL, S.D. – A day removed from its fourth-consecutive Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship Game, the Dakota Wesleyan University women’s basketball team was honored with three members being named to the All-GPAC Teams. Rylie Osthus (De Smet, S.D.) was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row, while juniors Kynedi Cheeseman (Alexandria, S.D.) and Sarah Carr (Huron, S.D.) were each tabbed to the All-GPAC First Team, it was announced by the conference Wednesday.
MITCHELL, S.D. – A day removed from its fourth-consecutive Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship Game, the Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team was honored with three members being named to the All-GPAC Teams. Rylie Osthus (De Smet, S.D.) was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row, while juniors Kynedi Cheeseman (Alexandria, S.D.) and Sarah Carr (Huron, S.D.) were each tabbed to the All-GPAC First Team, it was announced by the conference Wednesday.
A year after being named Co-Defensive Player of the Year of the conference, Osthus won the award outright this season as she was also tabbed to the All-GPAC Second Team. The senior guard led the Tigers with 5.3 assists per game and 2.0 steals per contest. Osthus ranks eighth in the NAIA Division II in total assists with 174 on the season and 10th nationally in assists per game.
She had a record-setting season as she set a career high against Valley City State University with 24 points and set a school record for steals in a game with 10. Osthus broke into the top-10 in the all-time scoring list in program history as she now sits with 1,399 career points. In her career, Osthus has also tallied 685 rebounds, 678 assists and 221 steals.
A season after being named to the All-GPAC Second Team, Cheeseman continued her success from a season ago, being named to the All-GPAC First Team. She led the team throughout the season with 18.5 points per game, ranking 12th nationally. Cheeseman ranks second in the GPAC in points per game and in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 42 percent. She also checked in at sixth in the country in free-throw percentage at 87.6 percent and seventh in total scoring with 610 points on the season.
The junior guard recorded a career-high 31 points against Presentation College on Nov. 21 this season as she finished 11-of-14 shooting from the field, 5-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. Cheeseman joined the 1,000-career point club against Dakota State University on Dec. 12 and has collected 1,375 career points, good for 11th in program history, as well as tallying 373 rebounds, 290 assists and 102 steals in her career.
Carr was the third member of the Tigers to be named to the All-GPAC Teams and the second player honored to the All-GPAC First Team. Carr recorded a breakout season after leading the team with 5.9 rebounds per contest and ranking third nationally in free-throw percentage, shooting 89.0 percent. She ranked third in the GPAC in scoring with 586 points on the season and fifth in field-goal percentage in the GPAC, shooting 49.9 percent.
She tallied her 1,000th career point against Briar Cliff University on Jan. 23, as she now has amassed 1,184 career points, sitting at 21st in program history. Carr notched a career high game against University of Jamestown as she finished with 38 points on 12-of-28 shooting from the field and 12-of-13 shooting from the charity stripe and collected 17 rebounds.
The NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Tournament Selection Show begins at 6 p.m. tonight.
