Three GLVC Women’s Basketball Teams Earn Major Postseason Honors

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INDIANAPOLIS – Lindenwood University graduate senior guard Julia Ruzevich has been named the 2021-22 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Women's Basketball Player of the Year, it was announced by the Conference office Wednesday. University of Illinois Springfield junior guard Lauren Ladowski was selected as Defensive Player of the Year, University of Missouri-St. Louis newcomer Mallory Ronshausen garnered Freshman of the Year honors, while Tritons’ head coach Katie Vaughn was voted by her peers as the Chuck Mallender Coach of the Year. 
 
A total of 31 student-athletes earned All-Conference honors and five were placed on the All-Freshman team with 15 named GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees. Major award winners and All-GLVC teams are voted on by the league’s head coaches.

Ruzevich is Lindenwood’s first major award winner in the sport since joining the league in 2019-20. She owns the top-two single-game high marks for rebounds with 26 and 20 and was one point shy of having a single-game scoring high when she dropped 35 against Rockhurst in Monday’s First Round of the GLVC Tournament. She tallied a double-double on 14 occasions in her 25 starts during the regular season and scored 20+ points 14 times, two of which were over 30. In those 25 games, she averaged a league-best 19.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. She impressed even further in Conference-only games, scoring 19.7 points and grabbing 11.3 boards per game. She finished her career with five GLVC Player of the Week awards to her name, three of which were earned this season, and the guard was one of eight unanimous First Team All-GLVC honorees.
 
Ladowski is the first-ever Prairie Star to win a major postseason accolade in women’s basketball after earning the respect of the league’s coaches for her efforts in the back court. She helped Illinois Springfield to the second-best three-point field goal defense in the league with a .292 (140-of-480) percentage allowed and contributed to the third-most steals per game (8.70) for the team with a league-best 73 (2.8/game) of her own. Not only did she hold opponents back offensively, but she excelled on the offensive side of the ball with the second-best scoring in the loop at 17.2 points per game. She was a GLVC Player of the Week in November and now has earned unanimous recognition to the All-GLVC First Team for her third career All-Conference award.

Ronshausen nabs Missouri-St. Louis’ first-ever women’s basketball major award with her Freshman of the Year laurel. She started 20 of 23 games on the year, averaging 9.3 points in 30.2 minutes of action per game and was nearly perfect at the foul line with an .897 (26-of-29) clip. The St. Louis, Mo., native dished out 42 assists, grabbed 49 rebounds, and stole the ball 16 times. In 18 GLVC games, she was even better, scoring 9.5 points per game in 30.5 minutes, shooting 24-of-25 (.960) at the stripe. The guard also had the fourth-best three-point field goals made per game at 2.13 (51) and had the second-most in a single game this year with seven in a non-conference contest against Kentucky Wesleyan in November. Additionally, Ronshausen was named to the All-Freshman team.

Vaughn becomes the first UMSL head coach to earn the league’s top honor after leading her team to a 21-4 overall record, going 17-3 in GLVC play to earn the West Division crown and earn the No. 3 seed in the Conference Tournament. Including Ronshausen, Vaughn mentored two unanimous All-GLVC first-team picks in Kiara Stewart and Alex LaPorta, as well as Faye Meissner on the Second Team and Jalysa Stokes on the All-Freshman Team. The Tritons were ranked nationally for several weeks in the WBCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and currently sit fifth in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings.

Rounding out the unanimous first-team contingent with Ruzevich, Ladowski, Stewart, and LaPorta was Lewis University junior guard Grace Hilber, Rockhurst University senior guard Daly Sullivan, as well as Truman state University junior guard Hannah Belanger and redshirt-junior forward Ellie Weltha. Drury also had a pair of First Team members in senior guard Paige Robinson and junior forward Alana Findley.

The league also recognized Williams Jewell as its GLVC Women’s Basketball James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award recipient, as well as 15 student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The nominees are now eligible to become one of their school's two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.

A complete list of the 2021-22 GLVC All-Conference teams and postseason honors follow below.
 
 
2021-2022 ALL-GLVC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS
GLVC Player of the Year: Julia Ruzevich, G, Gr., Lindenwood
GLVC Defensive Player of the Year: Lauren Ladowski, G, Jr., Illinois Springfield
GLVC Freshman of the Year: Mallory Ronshausen, G, Fr., Missouri-St. Louis
GLVC Chuck Mallender Coach of the Year:  Katie Vaughn, Missouri-St. Louis
 

FIRST TEAM ALL-GLVC Alana Findley, F., Jr., DU Paige Robinson, G., Sr., DU Lauren Ladowski, G, Jr., UIS # Grace Hilber, G, Jr., LEWIS # Julia Ruzevich, G, Gr., LWU # Kiara Stewart, C, Sr., UMSL # Alex LaPorta, F, Gr., UMSL # Daly Sullivan, G, Sr., RU # Hannah Belanger, G, Jr., TSU # Ellie Weltha, F, R-Jr., TSU # # UNANIMOUS SELECTION

SECOND TEAM ALL-GLVC Kaylee DaMitz, G, Gr., DU Kathryn Schmidt, F., So., LEWIS Devin Fuhring, G, R-Sr., LWU Antoinette Mussorici, G., Sr., MU Laura Rodriguez, G, Sr., S&T Alex Kerr, C, Sr., S&T Faye Meissner, G, Sr., UMSL Hannah Haithcock, F, Jr., USI Meredith Raley, F, So., USI Addy Blackwell, G, Jr., USI Kyleigh Vaught, G, Sr., SBU  *Extra Member due to tie.

THIRD TEAM ALL-GLVC Payton Richards, G, Gr., DU Terrion Moore, G, Gr., DU Malea Jackson, G, So., UIS Taylor Drury, G., Sr., UINDY Taylor Gugliuzza, G, So., LEWIS Ellen McCorkle, F, Sr., LWU Beth Matas Martin, G, Jr., QU Keegan Sullivan, G/F, So., RU Emma DeHart, G, Gr., USI Ashlynn Brown, F, Sr., USI

GLVC ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM  Elana Wells, G, UINDY Mallory Ronshausen, G, UMSL Jalysa Stokes, G, UMSL Vanessa Shafford, G, USI Kelsey Blakemore, G, SBU

 
2021-22 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP INDIVIDUAL AWARD HONOREES
Allie Clevenger, DU
Ellie Mitchell, UIS
Mickey Sasson, UINDY
Kae Barth-Lofton, LEWIS
Gracie Neff, LWU
Olivia Kastens, MU
Erin Golden, MCK
Marta Durk, S&T
Alex LaPorta, UMSL
Dami Adeyinka, QU
Meghan Urbanski, RU
Ashley Hunter, USI
Mary Rose Foster, SBU
Hannah Pinkston, TSU
Mary Capron, WJC

2021-22 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD
William Jewell