FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2008
Contact:  Dwayne Hanberry, SCAC Interim Commissioner

Oglethorpe's Kulavic; DePauw's Huffman
head 2007-08 All-SCAC Women's Basketball selections

CONWAY, Ark. - In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), junior guard Katie Kulavic of Oglethorpe University was selected as SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year and DePauw University head coach Kris Huffman was named SCAC Coach-of-the-Year for the third consecutive year. Senior guard Kalei Lowes made it two major awards for the DU Tigers as she was selected the league’s Defensive Player-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year.

The coaches also voted on Newcomer-of-the-Year, and sophomore forward Christina Byler of Hendrix College took home that award.

Kulavic becomes just the second Oglethorpe women’s player to win the league’s highest honor, following former Petrel all-American Heather Francoeur who was the SCAC Player-of-the-Year in 2002-03. That was also the last year that a non-DePauw player won the award after back-to-back POTY honors for former Tigers standouts Amy Argetsinger (2003-04 and 2004-05) and Liz Bondi (2005-06 and 2006-07).

A D3hoops.com preseason all-American, Kulavic finished the regular season averaging 16.6 points (fourth in the SCAC), 3.40 assists (sixth) and 1.96 steals per game (tied for 14th) and was also fifth in free throw percentage (84.3%) and led the league in field goal percentage (60.1%). If she maintains that standing throughout the postseason, she would be the first guard to lead the SCAC in field goal percentage since Alyson Welch of Millsaps College in 1993-94. A two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week in 2007-08, Kulavic scored her 1,300th career this past weekend and is already 16th on the league’s all-time scoring list.

Huffman, in her 15th season as DePauw’s head women’s basketball coach, led the 2007-08 Tigers to the program’s 11th 20-plus win season in the last 12 years. The team has made eight NCAA Championship appearances in the last 12 seasons which culminated with the school’s first-ever national championship last season. The Tigers are ranked seventh in the nation entering this year’s SCAC Tournament and are a near lock to earn a ninth trip to the defend their national title. The winningest coach in DePauw history, Huffman has posted a 326-85 career overall record (through the end of the 2007-08 regular season) and a 175-27 mark in conference games – including a perfect 14-0 record this season which was the team’s third undefeated conference season since joining the league in 1998. This is the sixth time Huffman has been named the SCAC COTY – the most of any other women’s basketball coach in league history.

Huffman received six votes for Coach-of-the-Year with five other coaches receiving one vote each. That group included Deb Hunter of Austin College, Wendie Austin-Robinson of Centre College, Kelly Mahlum of Colorado College, Dickie McCarthy of Sewanee-University of the South and Amie Bradley of Trinity University.

DePauw’s Lowes was the top defender for the team that led the SCAC in scoring defense and was second in turnover margin during the regular season. Also an offensive threat, Lowes averaged 6.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for the Tigers. Lowes, who also won the award last year, is the third player to win the league’s top defensive honor in consecutive seasons – joining Rosemary Boner of Rhodes College (2001-02 and 2002-03) and Jenna Smith of Trinity University (2003-04 and 2004-05).

Lowes garnered six votes for Defensive Player-of-the-Year, followed by Hannah Brooks of Oglethorpe with three votes and Crystal Dickerson of Millsaps College with the remaining two votes.

Byler of Hendrix, a sophomore academically but a first-year player on the court, led all SCAC newcomers in both scoring (19.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.0 rebounds per game) during the regular season and her scoring average was tops for the entire conference. If she maintains her standing throughout the postseason, it would mark the first time a first-year player has led the league in scoring since Jennifer Warren averaged 22.9 points a game for Trinity in 1994-95. She also leads the league in free throw percentage (88.0%) and her 168 made free throws is already the third-most free throws made in a single SCAC season.

Byler received 10 votes for Newcomer-of-the-Year with Tiffany Whitmore of Millsaps picking up one vote.

Kulavic, who is just the third player in SCAC history to earn All-SCAC First Team honors her first three seasons in the conference, is joined on this year’s All-SCAC First Team by fellow junior guards Cassie Pruzin of DePauw and Melanie Auguste of Colorado College as well as senior forward Meghan Scholbe and junior post Krista Prato Matthews – both of Trinity.

Pruzin is currently 11th in the SCAC in scoring (13.8 ppg) and 12th in rebounding (6.6 rpg) despite averaging just 29.6 minutes per game. She is also second in the league in three-point field goal percentage (39.7%), third in assists (4.4 apg), fourth in steals (2.5 spg) and seventh in both three-pointers made per game (2.0) and free-throw percentage (82.4%). A two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week selection, Pruzin ranks second in DePauw career three-pointers, fifth in steals and sixth in assists.

Auguste, who is also a two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week selection as well as a two-time selection to the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week, leads the SCAC and is second in the nation in assists – averaging 7.25 per game. Her 174 assist total is already the third-most in a single SCAC season. In addition, Auguste is sixth in the league in scoring (15.3 ppg), third in steals (2.6 spg) and sixth in rebounding (8.2 rpg). Just a junior, she has already joined the 1,000-point/500-rebound club this season. Already the school’s all-time leader in career assists, Auguste is just seven steals from topping the school’s chart in that category.

Scholbe currently ranks 10th in the SCAC in scoring (14.5 ppg) and is third in rebounding (8.9 rpg) – despite playing in limited minutes in several games this season due to injury. She is also eighth in the league in field goal percentage (49.2%) and free-throw percentage (80.6%) as well as second in steals (2.7 spg) and seventh in blocks (1.0 bpg). Scholbe, a two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week during the season, is the only player in the league to rank in the top 10 in all six of those categories and pulled down her 600th career rebound last weekend.

Prato-Matthews is currently fifth in the SCAC in both scoring (15.3 ppg) and field goal percentage (52.6%) and is second in rebounding (9.4 rpg) and blocks per game (2.7 bpg). She is one of just two players to rank in the top five in both scoring and rebounding. A two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week, Prato-Matthews posted 11 double-doubles this season – third-most in the conference. She was also named to the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week the first week of the season. Prato-Matthews is the league’s active leader in career rebounds and has 675 heading into this weekend’s SCAC Tournament.