Rio's Skeens named First Team All-America
Rio Grande Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - University of Rio Grande women's basketball standout Ella Skeens has been named to the 2022-23 NAIA Women's Basketball All-America First Team.
The All-America teams, Player of the Year and Coach of the Year award winners, which were selected by the All-America Committee, were announced by the national office on Tuesday.
Skeens, a senior from Chillicothe, Ohio, is the first player in program history to be named a First Team All-America selection.
"We're so proud of Ella and her accomplishments on and off the court during her two-year tenure at the University of Rio Grande," said Rio Grande head coach David Smalley. "Her accolades are too numerous to list, but those individual awards culminated in the ultimate compliment a college basketball player could achieve – a First Team All-America award."
Skeens led the RedStorm to a 30-4 finish and the school's first-ever appearance in the Round of 16 at the NAIA National Championship.
The two-time River States Conference Player of the Year averaged a team-best 23.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in leading Rio to consecutive 30-win seasons for the first time in program history.
She also averaged 2.6 assists per game, while shooting 52.0 percent from the floor overall, 40.6 percent from three-point range and 82.7 percent from the free throw line.
Skeens, who was a Third Team All-America selection last season, earned six RSC Player of the Week awards during the course of the 2022-23 campaign and twice was named the NAIA National Player of the Week.
One of the two National Player of the Week awards came after Skeens set a new single-game school record with 50 points in a 99-59 rout of Asbury (Ky.) University on Jan. 24 and followed it up four days later with a 42-point effort in a 105-66 victory over Indiana University East.
She tallied 1,471 points and 541 rebounds in just two seasons at Rio Grande.
"Ella has been a model teammate and a pleasure to coach. She is one of, if not the most, gifted and talented women's basketball players to wear a Rio Grande jersey in my 31 years coaching at Rio," said Smalley. "Her accomplishments, as well as those of her teammates, over the past two seasons have been really special."
In addition to the consecutive 30-win seasons, those accomplishments include a pair of conference regular season and tournament championships and the school's first-ever national tournament victory before posting two more wins in this year's tourney.
This season, the RedStorm led the NAIA in points per game(96.8), field goals per game (36.6), rebounds per game (51.5), rebound margin (15.4) and assists per game (22.9). The per game averages in scoring and assists also led all levels (NCAA & NAIA) of women's college basketball.
Rio Grande also ranked second nationally in home attendance in the NAIA this season.
"I'm very proud of Ella and this entire team, as well as my coaching staff and our supportive community and student body for their outpouring of support for our program," Smalley said.
Junior guard Ella Collier of Marian (Ind.) University was named the National Player of the Year and Courtney Boyd of national champion Clarke (Iowa) was named Coach of the Year.
In addition to Skeens and Collier, the remainder of the All-America First Team was comprised of Campbellsville (Ky.) junior forward Kaitlynn Wilks; Carroll (Mont.) senior forward Jamie Pickens; Central Methodist (Mo.) sophomore guard Leianya Massenat; Jamestown (N.D.) senior forward Hannah DeMars; Mayville State (N.D.) senior guard Jordan Zrust; Montana Western senior forward Brynley Fitzgerald; Texas Wesleyan senior forward Kertisa Amos; Health Sciences and Pharmacy (Mo.) junior guard Grace Beyer; Vanguard (Calif.) junior center Melissa Akullu; and Westmont (Calif.) senior guard Stefanie Berberabe.