Schutjer, Nielsen, Niemuth take home all-IIAC honors
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Simpson women's basketball players Stacey Schutjer and Kate Nielsen earned First Team All-Iowa Conference honors, Cathy Kain landed an honorable mention pick and head coach Brian Niemuth took home Coach of the Year honors for the 2011-12 season, the league office announced Wednesday.
Schutjer, a senior post from Titonka, Iowa, becomes just the fourth player in program history to earn first team all-conference honors three times during her career, joining Laurie Sankey (1983-85), Michelle Stover (2000-02) and Katelyn Whiton (2006-08). She closed the season second on the team in scoring (13.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg) and is one of only four players in Simpson women's basketball history with 1,300 points and 700 rebounds.
She currently ranks sixth with 1,378 points and third with 701 rebounds.
Nielsen, a junior forward from Urbandale, Iowa, makes her first appearance on an all-conference team. She led the Storm in scoring (14.0 ppg), rebounding (7.8 rpg) and steals (65), adding 30 blocked shots and six double-doubles on the year. She was a Capital One First Team Academic All-District performer and a two-time Iowa Conference Player of the Week.
Kain, a junior from Des Moines, Iowa, started 11 games for the Storm in 2011-12, averaging 7.6 points and 3.1 rebounds. She was the most efficient 3-point shooter on the conference's top 3-point shooting team, hitting 41 percent of her shots taken from beyond the arc (25 of 61).
It was a year of milestones for Niemuth. The 25th-year head coach became the winningest coach in Iowa Conference play when he picked up No. 294 in a win over Wartburg on Jan. 21, passing legendary Luther coach Jane Hildebrand (293 IIAC wins in 27 seasons from 1984-2011). He went on to earn his 300th league win Feb. 15 when Simpson beat Central 81-63, clinching the conference regular season title.
Niemuth now has his sights set on 500 wins, currently sitting at 478-192. The Coach of the Year honor is the sixth of his career and first since winning the award after the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. He also won following the 1997-98, 1998-99 and 2005-06 seasons. Niemuth has guided the Storm to 10 conference titles and 10 NCAA Championship appearances during his career.
Kayla Waskow of IIAC Tournament Champion, Coe was named Most Valuable Player while Wartburg's Leslie Wilson was the Defensive Player of the Year.
Simpson won its fifth-consecutive Iowa Conference regular season championship in 2011-12, taking the title outright with a 13-3 record in league play. The Storm are currently 21-6 and will appear in the NCAA Division III Championship as an at-large selection, qualifying for the tournament for the eighth consecutive season. Simpson travels to Chicago to face No. 16 UW-Eau Claire on Friday, March 2 at the University of Chicago's Ratner Center. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
