MOLINE, Ill. – Drake's Becca Hittner has been named the 2019 Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year, becoming the fifth player in league history to win the league's top award two straight seasons. Hittner has started all 30 games, leads the MVC in scoring with 19.9 points per outing, ranks seventh in shooting percentage at 48.4 and third in three-point field goal percentage (39.9%). Hittner, who also won the award a year ago, raised her already impressive play to another level in league play this year. She led the Valley scoring with a 21.2 points per game average, while shooting 48.1% from the field in 18 league contests. Hittner joins Drake's Wanda Ford (1985, 1986), Missouri State's Jackie Stiles (1999, 2000, 2001), Creighton's Christy Neneman (2002, 2003) and Illinois State's Kristi Cirone (2007, 2008, 2009) as the only repeat winners of the award.
In her first season at Illinois State, TeTe Maggett is this year's Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year. A junior transfer from Vincennes Junior College, Maggett scored in double figures in all but six contests, averaging 15.8 points per game, which ranks fourth in The Valley. Maggett took home the Valley's Newcomer of the Week honor four times this season, en route to becoming the fourth Redbird to win Newcomer of the Year honors, joining Jamie Russell (2012), Janae Smith (2013) and Simone Goods (2018). The junior standout also led the Redbirds in assists, dishing out 2.5 per game, and ranked second on the team in rebounds (4.6 per game).
Drake senior guard Sammie Bachrodt earns this year's Defensive Player of the Year honor, becoming the first Valley player to win the league's top defensive award in two-straight seasons since Wichita State's Alex Harden in 2013 and 2014. This season, Bachrodt is averaging impressive stats across the board at 9.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Bachrodt leads the Valley in steals with 72 on the season. She has started all 126 games in her career and is No. 17 all-time on the Valley chart in career steals with 272. Bachrodt was selected to the MVC All-Defensive Team for the third-straight season.
Bradley rookie Lasha Petree is this year's Freshman of the Year after she burst onto the Valley scene as one of the most efficient players in the league. Petree sits as the second-highest scoring freshman in Bradley program history, scoring 18 points or more in 11 games this season. She is the highest scoring freshman in the MVC since Sara Rhine during the 2015-16 season, sitting 10th in the league in scoring at 13.0 points per game. She was named the Valley's Newcomer of the Week five times and becomes the second Brave to earn the league's top freshman honor joining Karen Nicholls who claimed the honor in 1987.
Petree also claimed the Valley's fifth-ever Sixth Player of the Year, a distinction that is designed to honor an impact player that has started in fewer than half of its conference games. This year, Petree averaged 14.4 points per game in the 17 games she came off the bench, including a 14.6 points per outing in the 12 Valley games she did not start. The freshman standout had 13 of her 17 double-digit scoring outings off the bench, including four of her six 20-point performances.
In her sixth season at the helm, Missouri State's Kellie Harper has been named the league's Coach of the Year for the first time in her career, guiding the Lady Bears to their best MVC record since 2004, earning the No. 2 seed in this week's tournament. Missouri State finished the season with a 19-2 record after starting the season 1-7, registering the third 20-win season in the last four years. Harper led the Lady Bears to a perfect 9-0 mark in MVC road games, marking the first time in program history. The Lady Bears rotation includes only one senior and one junior. Harper joins Valerie Goodwin-Colbert (1987) and Cheryl Burnett (1991, 1992, 1994) as the only other MSU head coaches to earn the award.