SEWARD, Neb. – Philly Lammer’s combination of excellence in athletics and academics made her an ideal nomination for the NAIA Emil S. Liston Award. On Thursday (July 25), the GPAC announced the Concordia University women’s basketball star as the conference’s female nominee for the Liston Award. The national winners will be named during the NAIA National Awards day on Sept. 15.
The Liston Award is named in honor of the NAIA’s first executive secretary and the prime mover behind the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Tournament. The award has been presented annually since 1950 to one junior men’s and one junior women’s basketball student-athlete who has shown high athletic and scholastic achievement. Former Concordia men’s basketball standout Chandler Folkerts accepted the Liston Award in 2017.
“Philly’s dedication to academics and athletics is amazing,” said President Brian Friedrich. “Perhaps greater still is her commitment to service and leadership on our campus. She is an exceptional role model and exemplifies a student-athlete who is a Champion of Character.”
“She will be considered to be the greatest player in Concordia women’s basketball history when she has completed her four years,” said head women’s basketball coach Drew Olson. “What I am most impressed with is her humbleness and her desire to impact others. She brings joy to everyone she meets.”
Lammers cleaned up awards during and following a storybook 2018-19 season that concluded with the Bulldogs celebrating the first national title in program history. Along the way, Lammers was tabbed GPAC Player of the Year, an NAIA First Team All-American, Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska Team Captain and member of the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament Team, among other accolades. The biology and physics major is the lone player in Bulldog women’s basketball history to be named either a first or second team All-American in three-consecutive years.
As a junior, Lammers averaged 14.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.63 steals and 1.21 blocks while shooting 57.9 percent from the floor and 74.0 percent from the foul line. The Omaha native and Millard West High School product will enter her senior season with school all-time rankings of seventh in rebounds (823), seventh in steals (271) and 10th in scoring (1,574). During Lammers’ first three seasons, Concordia has swept GPAC regular season and postseason titles each year and has advanced to at least the national semifinals in each instance. The overall record for the program during that time is 105-8.