Trio of Racers earn All-Valley honors
WBB: Katelyn Young is named 1st Team All-MVC for the second-straight year
On the eve of Heartland in the Hoops, Murray State’s Katelyn Young, Ava Learn and Haven Ford all picked up Missouri Valley Conference awards on Wednesday night.
For the second-straight year, Young earned 1st Team All-Conference honors. The senior forward from Oakwood, Illinois is one of six players in the country to be averaging at least 19.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game this season. Young scored a season-high 39 points February 22nd at UIC. She is 30 points away from passing Sheila Smith to become Murray State’s all-time leading scorer.
Junior forward Ava Learn earned a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference’s All-Newcomer Team. The Purdue transfer averaged career-highs of 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Learn scored in double-figures in the first 11 games of the season, and had a pair of double-doubles this year. She was also 7th in conference play shooting 50.9% from the field.
Haven Ford picked up a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference’s All-Freshman Team. Kentucky’s 2023 Miss Basketball showed why she was such a recruiting priority for Murray State Head Coach Rechelle Turner, as Ford averaged 10.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season. In the regular season finale at Bradley, Ford scored 19 points, grabbed a career-high ten rebounds and dished out six assists. She also went 13-for-13 from the free throw line against the Braves, which was the second-most free throws without a miss in program history.
Murray State will open Missouri Valley Conference Tournament play on Thursday night at 8:30pm against Bradley.