Rich, Conahan and Morris named to All-GPAC teams

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Concordia’s talented trio of senior Katie Rich, junior Kristen Conahan and sophomore Bailey Morris have each been named all-conference choices for the 2012-13 season, the GPAC announced on Wednesday. Rich and Conahan were both placed on the first team, while Morris is a second team pick. Rich also received GPAC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second-straight year.

Rich, a native of Tilden, Neb., moves up to the conference’s first team after garnering second team accolades as both a sophomore and junior. The 5-foot-9 guard routinely matches up with the opponent’s top offensive threat and is one of the best defenders in the nation. She ranks third in the GPAC with 2.50 steals per game and is the third-leading scorer for Concordia with an average of 11.1 points per game.

In 123 career games, Rich has amassed 1,287 points, 648 rebounds, 264 steals and 232 assists. She was a key cog for the Bulldogs’ GPAC regular-season and tournament championship squad last season and will play in the national tournament for the third time in her career when the 2013 event gets started next week.

Conahan quickly became one of the top players in the GPAC upon her arrival at Concordia and is making her second-straight appearance on the GPAC’s first team. She has improved her numbers across the board compared to last season. The Omaha native leads Concordia with a scoring average of 15.9 points per game. She is shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from 3-point range. She ranks second in the GPAC with 3.16 steals per game.

Morris, a native of Roseland, Neb., broke out with a huge sophomore campaign to improve upon her honorable mention all-conference honor last season. The 5-foot-4 guard is second on the team with 14.5 points per game and leads the conference with 3.23 steals per contest. She has vastly boosted her shooting percentages from a year ago and currently sits at 39.8 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from the 3-point arc.

Says head coach Drew Olson of the trio of Rich, Conahan and Morris: “They’ve got a lot of experience between Katie, Connie and Bailey, they’ve been there. At the same time they are really talented. They’ve got great athleticism, great speed, great quickness. They can really shoot the ball. I think that gives them a lot of different weapons that they can utilize at different times of the game.”

Rounding out all-conference honors for Concordia is junior Lori Laboda and sophomore Tracy Peitz, who both received honorable mention acknowledgment. Laboda, an honorable mention selection for the second-straight year, is averaging 6.3 points and a team-leading 6.4 rebounds in 29 games on the season. Meanwhile, Peitz is averaging 7.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.31 steals in 29 games.