Nielsen named D3hoops.com First Team All-American

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Simpson women's basketball player Kate Nielsen added another honor to her ever-growing list when she earned a spot on the 2013 D3hoops.com All-America First Team.

Nielsen – the D3hoops.com West Region Player of the Year and a 2013 State Farm®/WBCA NCAA Division III Player of the Year Finalist – ranked fifth in the nation in scoring (22.3 ppg), brought down 8.8 rebounds per game and shot 53.7 percent from the field. She was named Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player and took home conference player of the week honors seven times.

A senior forward from Urbandale, Iowa, Nielsen led the Storm to a school-record tying 27 wins in 2012-13 and a trip to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Nielsen and the Storm went 27-3, captured a sixth straight Iowa Conference Championship and finished the season ranked No. 10 in the USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll.

Nielsen becomes the first D3hoops.com First Team All-American in program history. Katelyn Whiton was a second team pick in 2008 and Emily Tonn was a fourth-teamer in 2000.

Sam Barber (Sr., G, UW-Stevens Point), Kristina Willaims (Sr., G, Lewis & Clark), Sarah Collins (Sr., C, Babson) and Carissa Verkaik (Sr., C, Calvin) joined Nielsen on the first team. Verkaik was named national Player of the Year, Rachel Parupsky (F, Bethel) was named Rookie of the Year and Kirs Huffman of national champion DePauw was named Coach of the Year.

D3hoops.com has named an All-America team and national award winners annually for 16 seasons.