Cascade Collegiate Conference has Seven All-Americans
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A combined seven women’s and men’s basketball student-athletes from Cascade Collegiate Conference institutions were named All-American Wednesday. Players are selected by the All-America committee.
Four women’s basketball All-American nods from the conference were led by Northwest’s Jessalyn Jackson’s second team honor. The senior led NAIA Div. 2 in blocks (4.33) and rebounds (11.6) per game this season. Jackson added 19.3 points per game which led the conference. She was named the Cascade Conference women’s basketball Player of the Year.
Katie Steigleman was named third team for the second season in a row after helping lead the Warriors to their second of back-to-back CCC regular season titles and the program's first trip to the State Farm-NAIA Div. 2 National Tournament since 2007. Despite missing six games due to a knee injury this season, Steigleman led the team in two statistical categories that included points per game (15.0) and free throw percentage (0.871).
College of Idaho’s Felicity Jones and Warner Pacific’s Chelsey Christensen were each named honorable mention All-American. Jones led the Lady Yotes with an average of 13.2 points and 2.2 steals per outing. Christensen averaged 14.8 points per game, while shooting 50.9 percent from the field, which was 13th in the country.
The conference’s men’s Player of the Year, Oregon Tech’s Bobby Hunter, was named first team All-American. Hunter led the CCC in conference scoring average (20.0 ppg), was fourth in steals (2.31 spg) while averaging just under 32 minutes played per game. Hunter led the Owls to their fourth-straight Cascade Collegiate Conference regular-season title and automatic berth to the NAIA Men’s Div. 2 National Tournament. He was also named the CCC Newcomer of the Year.
Northwest’s Rich Skillman was named third team All-American after leading the Eagles to the national tournament as the CCC regular season co-champions. The senior was third in the country in total steals (95) and fourth in steals per game (2.79). Skillman threw 131 assists this season and averaged 11.85 points per contest.
Eric Thompson of Southern Oregon was named honorable mention All-American. The freshman averaged 19.5 points and 7.57 rebounds per game.
Jonathon Dunn of Northwood (Fla.) was named the men’s NABC-National Player of the Year, and Jennifer Jorgensen of Grand View (Iowa) earned the women’s National Player of the Year.