Rochester, Mich. (Mar. 4, 2004)- Sophomore
Jayme Wilson (Shawnee, Kan.) led three Oakland women???s basketball players that received all-conference accolades by being named first team All-Mid-Con for the first time in her career after being named honorable mention last season. Juniors
Amanda Batcha (Waterford, Mich.) and
Petra Manakova (Prague, Czech Republic) both received honorable mention honors, while Mankova was also named to the All-Newcomer Team. Wilson, who was named to the preseason all conference first team, lived up to the billing as she closed out the regular season averaging a team-high and conference best 15.4 points per game. She also finished third in the conference and 24th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 41.0 percent. Wilson recorded a league-leading eight 20-point games, reaching double figures in all but four games this season, and led Oakland in scoring in 10 outings. Batcha received her first conference honor after leading the conference with 13 10-rebound games recording eight double-doubles on the season. She has also scored in double figures in 14 games this season. Batcha closed out the regular season by leading the team in field goal percentage (59.9%), rebounds per game (8.9), defensive rebounds per game (6.6), assists per game (3.3), and assist/turnover ratio (1.8) and was ranked in the top five in the conference in all five categories. She finished first in the Mid-Con in field goal percentage and defensive rebounds per game. Manakova received the two honors in her first year at Oakland. She closed out the regular season averaging 9.7 points per game and 5.1 rebounds. She led the team with 34 blocks and finished third in the conference with 1.3 blocks per game. Manakova scored in double figures in 15 games this season and led the team or tied for the lead in seven. Joining Wilson on the first team were Western Illinois??? Tiffany Cornelius and Zane Teilane, Southern Utah???s Casey Cooke, UMKC???s Carlai Moore, and Oral Roberts??? Elisha Turek. Cornelius was named Player of the Year, becoming only the second player from Western Illinois to receive the award. Turek and Moore were named Newcomer of the Year and Sixth Woman of the Year, respectively. IUPUI???s Brooke McAfee was named Defensive Player of the Year. Western Illinois head coach Leslie Crane repeated as Coach of the Year. Second team all-conference selections included Valparaiso???s Katie Boone, Oral Roberts??? Leah Cannon, Chicago State???s Kafayat Davies, IUPUI???s Kia Hayes, and Centenary???s Alexis Pettway. Along with Batcha and Manakova, UMKC???s Katie Houlehan, Valparaiso???s Jenna Stangler, and Southern Utah???s Lacey Yates were selected to the honorable mention team. Southern Utah???s Janis Beal, Western Illinois??? Orinta Kavaliaukaite, and Valparaiso???s Betsy Rietema joined Manakova and Turek on the All-Newcomer Team. Oakland begins play in the 2004 Mid-Con Women???s Basketball Tournament as the No. 4 seed when they face No. 5 Oral Roberts on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. CST at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.