Pride lead Heart with six 2023-24 All-Conference selections

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For the third-straight season, the Clarke University women's basketball team had the most players selected as members of the All Heart of America Athletic Conference teams with six members of the Pride receiving the honor for the 2023-24 season.

The six members of the Pride to receive honors include First Team selections Nicole McDermott, Taylor Haase, and Mya Merschman with the trio of Taylor Norris, Izzie Peterson and Maci Kuchta being named to as All-Heart Honorable Mention selections.

Along with her All-Heart First Team selection, McDermott was named the Heart's Player of the Year unanimously as well as holding one of six spots on the Heart's All-Defensive Team.

The full release on McDermott's season and Heart honors can be found here: https://clarkepride.com/sports/wbkb/2023-24/releases/202403010gecy5

With the player honors, CU's head coach Adam Hocking and assistant coach Haley Froelich received the honor of Heart Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year in their first seasons in the roles. The full release on the coaching honors can be found here: https://clarkepride.com/sports/wbkb/2023-24/releases/20240229zkne8m

Haase and Merschman both jump up to All-Heart First Team selections for the first time in their careers as both were Honorable Mentions in 2022-23 with Haase receiving her third-straight All-Heart honor and Merschman receiving the recognition for the second consecutive season.

Haase was a force to be reckoned with in the post moving into a starting role in her senior season as she scored in double figures in all but four games and recorded a career-high 11 double-doubles that included two 20-rebound performances to go down as the eighth and ninth 20-rebound games in school history and just the fourth player to ever record 20 or more rebounds in a game in school history. With an increase in minutes in her starting role, Haase set new career-highs in points per game at 13.8, rebounds per game at 9.2, assist per game with 1.7. as well as leading the team with 1.1 blocked shots per game. Haase received back-to-back Heart Player of the Week honors, the most of any member of the Pride this season as she was recognized by the conference for outstanding performances over two weeks on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.

Merschman finished the regular season as a 50/40/90 player at 50.2 percent from the field, 48.8 percent from three point range, the best percentage in the conference, and 92.6 percent from the free throw line with the team's second-best scoring average on the team, appearing in every game this season for CU. In her first season in the starting lineup for CU, Merschman grabbed 5.5 rebounds per game, 1.7 assists per game, and 0.7 shots blocked per game, reaching new career-highs in all of her stat categories while averaging an even 30 minutes per game on the year.

Peterson gets the All-Heart nod for the first time in her career as the senior from Oregon, Wis. also took over a starting role like Haase and Merschman, to average 6.1 points per game, 2.9 assists per game, and 2.5 rebounds per game, all career-highs. Adding more offensive production in her increased minutes load, Peterson shot career-high percentages from the field at 37.8 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from three point range as she attempted almost 60 shots from the field than any other season and 33 more three point shots than her career-high. 

Providing plenty of excitment and scoring punch off the bench, Norris has been a crucial new addition to the Pride in her first season in Dubuque as the fourth scorer averaging double figures behind McDermott, Merschman, and Haase at an even 12.0 points per game mark in the regular season while shooting 40.3 percent from the field and stretching the floor to finish 38.1 percent from three point range, frequently able to extend her range to well beyond the three-point line. Averaging only just over 22 minutes per game, Norris has finished in double figures 17 times during the regular season including a pair of 20-plus point performances in the regular season and most recently electrifying the Kehl Center crowd this past Wednesday night with a game-high 23 points in CU's Heart Tournament first round win over Central Methodist.

Another new addition to Clarke this season, Kuchta served as the primary ball handler for the Pride to finish at a team-high 3.5 assists per game while posting a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio as she finished at an 8.6 points per game mark following her transfer in from Iowa Wesleyan. Kuchta's offensive production came from a three-level scoring approach able to finish around the rim, from mid-range, and knock down three pointers shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from three as she set a strong early impression on Pride fans opening the season with a 20-point performance in the season opener against St. Ambrose and followed it up with 19 in the home opener against Governor's State where she hit the game-winning floater in the final seconds of CU's 68-66 win over the Jaguars.

Clarke women's basketball will continue with Heart Tournament play on Saturday afternoon when they host Benedictine College for a 4:00 p.m. CT tip in the Kehl Center against the Ravens.