Reese Schaaf named Midwest Region Player of the Year

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.–  Drury forward Reese Schaaf was named the Midwest Region Player of the Year and a First Team all-Region selection by the D2 Conference Commissioner’s Association in a vote of the region’s collegiate sports communicators.
 
Schaaf is averaging 16.8 points and 10 rebounds per game for the Lady Panthers this season. The sophomore from El Dorado Springs, Missouri, led the Great Lakes Valley Conference, shooting .583 from the field. She is shooting 81 percent from the free throw line and her 18 double-doubles are the most this season in NCAA-II.
 
Schaaf became the second player in program history to have both 500 points and 300 rebounds in a single season, with 520 points and 309 boards so far this year. She joins Hailey Diestelkamp as the only other Drury player to reach those single-season milestones. Schaaf is also eight rebounds away from breaking Diestelkamp’s single-season rebounding record.
 
Schaaf was named the GLVC Player of the Year and was named to the All-GLVC First Team. She was named the league’s Player of the Week four times this season. Schaaf set Drury’s single-game rebounding record with 24 boards against Upper Iowa on Feb. 29, breaking the previous mark of 22 held by Melanie Oliver, who had 22 rebounds in a game in the 2009-10 season. Schaaf nearly topped the mark less than 10 days later when she had a 23 rebound game against Upper Iowa in the GLVC semifinals on March 9.
 
Of the 10 players named to the All-Midwest Region team, Schaaf was the only underclassman. Her award also marks the second time in program history a Drury player has won regional Player of the Year honors. Hailey Diestelkamp was named the Midwest Region Player of the Year in 2020.
 
The Lady Panthers are 25-6 and will play number one ranked Ashland on Friday at 1:30 pm (CT) in Allendale, Michigan in the opening round of the NCAA-II Tournament. Drury is in the national tournament for the 21^st time in their 24 year history.
 

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