The Lady Bison basketball team hosted the 2014 NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament March 14-17 and lost their first game to Concordia University, St. Paul Friday, March 14 with a final score of 57-68.
Junior forward Arielle Saunders led Harding with 16 points and 15 rebounds, senior forward Kristen Celsor scored 11 points and 12 rebounds; freshman guard A’ndrea Haney scored 10 points.
Celsor was named the “Most Outstanding Player” to headline the 2013-2014 Daktronics NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Central All-Region team. This is not the first award Celsor has received. She is this year’s Great American Conference Player of the Year, Daktronis Central Region Player of the Year, and a two-time Capital One Academic All-American.
“We have such a tough region and conference full of talented girls, and I cannot believe that I was chosen, but I am so thankful,” Celsor said. “I just can’t say enough how thankful I am for my time as a Lady Bison. Being a part of this program has been so rewarding in so many ways. I learned so much about myself, and I gained so many mentors because of basketball. There really are no other fans like the Rhodes Rowdies, and I’m so thankful that I got to play in front of them for four years.”
Haney said she admired Celsor as a leader on the team who was able to inspire without saying a word.
“Kristen was a great senior leader, of course, on and off the floor,” Haney said. “Coming in, she was definitely the girl that I looked up to. She just really – without even saying a word, really – led the team. She really kept our team together, and we had other great seniors that took their role and ran with it.”
Haney was recently named GAC Freshman of the Year and is the fourth Harding player to receive the award. Celsor, junior guard Montana Lewis and former Lady Bison Catherine McMenamy all won the award their respective freshman years.
“The season this year was so much fun,” Lewis said. “Winning is obviously fun, but our team was also very close this year because everyone was excited about each other’s success. When that happens on a team, everything flows a lot better.”
Celsor said the team had a successful season and seeing it come to an end was emotional but rewarding. As a senior, she expressed that the closure of the season and her college basketball career was bittersweet.
“It is unbelievable to me that I am actually done with basketball, honestly,” Celsor said. “I am sad, but I understand that it was my time to go and that there are so many girls on that team ready to lead them to another unforgettable, record-breaking season.”
