RedStorm's Skeens named WBCA All-American

Rio Grande Sports Information
     ATLANTA, Ga. - University of Rio Grande senior standout Ella Skeens is among those named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NAIA All-America First Team.
     The team was announced Thursday.
     Skeens, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, led the RedStorm to a 30-4 finish and the school's first-ever appearance in the Round of 16 at the NAIA National Championship.
     The two-time River States Conference Player of the Year averaged a team-best 23.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in leading Rio to consecutive 30-win seasons for the first time in program history.
     Skeens also averaged 2.6 assists per game, while shooting 52.0 percent from the floor overall, 40.6 percent from three-point range and 82.7 percent from the free throw line.
     She also earned six RSC Player of the Week awards during the course of the 2022-23 campaign and twice was named the NAIA National Player of the Week.
     One of the two National Player of the Week awards came after Skeens set a new single-game school record with 50 points in a 99-59 rout of Asbury (Ky.) University on Jan. 24 and followed it up four days later with a 42-point effort in a 105-66 victory over Indiana University East.
     In just two seasons at Rio Grande, Skeens tallied 1,471 points and 541 rebounds.
     Joining Skeens on the First Team was another Ella - Ella Collier of Marian University - who was named the WBCA NAIA Player of the Year.
     Collier led the Knights to the quarterfinal round of the national tournament.
     The WBCA presents the Player of the Year award annually to the top player in five of the six WBCA membership divisions (NCAA Divisions II, and III, NAIA, two-year college and high school). The Player of the Year and the 10-member Coaches' All-America team in each division are selected by a committee of WBCA member coaches in that division. The Wade Trophy is presented to the best player in NCAA Division I.
     The remainder of the First Team included Melissa Akullu of Vanguard University; Thomas More University's Zoie Barth; Stefanie Berberabe from Westmont College; University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy's Grace Beyer; Sandra Cannady of Loyola University; Kyra Whitaker from the Indiana Institute of Technology; Campbellsville University's Kaitlynn Wilks; and Taya Wilson of Sterling College.
     "We congratulate each member of the 2023 WBCA NAIA Coaches' All-America team as well," said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. "These young women have worked to elevate their teams and themselves to an elite level of competition. Through their exceptional talents on the basketball court, they have also lifted the women's game."
     Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition.
     The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport.