LOCK HAVEN, PA – Fresh off one of the best all-around season in the PSAC in a long time, Clarion University sophomore Hannah Heeter has been named a first-team PSAC West women’s basketball all-conference selection.
Heeter, the lone sophomore to make first team in either the PSAC West or PSAC East, is the only PSAC player to average a double-double this season (14.4 points per game and 13.3 rebounds per game) and one of just two in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region to be averaging a double-double. She is the PSAC leader and second in NCAA Division II in rebounds per game and broke a 33-year old school record for rebounding average at Clarion. Heeter also leads the PSAC in shooting (51.7 percent), is fifth in scoring, seventh in blocked shots (1.3 bpg) and 13th in steals (2.0 spg) while adding 1.6 assists per contest. Her 13.3 rebounds per game is the highest average in the PSAC since 1999. She also ranked 16th in the conference in free-throw percentage at 72.1 percent improving her percentage since her freshman season over 20 percentage points from 50.7 percent.
On the season, Heeter recorded 16 double-doubles in 25 games and currently ranks sixth in NCAA Division II in double-doubles while adding 19 double-digit rebounding games and 22 double-digit scoring games. Her nine games of 15 or more rebounds set the school record, and her two 20-rebound contests tied the school mark. She had a season-best 25 rebounds, the most in a game in Division II this season and second most in a game in school history, in a win over Lock Haven, the second time in her career she has snatched 25 boards in game. She also had a season-high 24 points vs. IUP, one of two 20-point contests on the year for the forward.
Heeter, also a starter on Clarion’s NCAA Division II tournament-qualifying volleyball team, missed the first four games of the season while playing volleyball and didn’t have any preseason practices yet recorded double-doubles in four of her first six games. She then finished the season by recording double-doubles in each of her final four contests while averaging 15 ppg and 16 rebounds per game in those four games down the stretch helping Clarion reach the PSAC playoffs for the first time since 2009.
In addition to breaking Lisa Zitalone’s 33-year old school record for rebounding in game, which had stood at 12.5 rpg since 1980, Heeter finished the season with the third most rebounds in a season (332), the 12th most blocked shots (33) and the 27th best scoring average at Clarion. She also became just the fifth player in school history to average a season double-double in back-to-back years after averaging 13.4 points and 11.8 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2012 while being named the PSAC West Freshman of the Year and a second-team PSAC West selection.
Heeter, in just two years, ranks 11th in school history with 616 rebounds, seventh in blocked shots with 65 and 39th in scoring with 682 points. Her 12.6 career rebounds per game would also be the school record by nearly two rebounds per contest. She has 29 career double-doubles and 34 double-digit rebounding games in 49 career contests including tying the school record with a pair of 20-20 games and setting the school mark with four 20-rebound contests in her career.
In addition to being a first-team All-PSAC West selection, Heeter also earned Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American honors in both basketball and volleyball this year (second team in both sports) becoming the first athlete in school history to earn Academic All-American honors in multiple sports. She was also a PSAC Academic Top 10 Award winner, a first-team AVCA All-Region honoree and a second-team PSAC West selection in volleyball in the fall.
The rest of the PSAC West first team includes Edinboro’s Samantha Blazetic and Kiara Brown, California’s Stephanie Michael, Gannon’s Jen Papich and IUP’s Sarah Pastorek with Papich being named the PSAC West Athlete of the Year.
NOTES – Heeter is the first Clarion player to earn first-team All-PSAC West honors since Lizzie Suwala in 2010 and the first player to earn All-Conference honors in back-to-back season since Katrina Greer earned All-PSAC West honors three straight seasons from 2007 through 2009 with the last two being first-team selections … Clarion finished the season 13-16 overall, its most wins since 2010 and 9-13 in the PSAC West.
PSAC WEST FIRST TEAM BY THE NUMBERS
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | YR | PPG | RPG | FG % | FT% | SPG | BPG | APG |
| Hannah Heeter | Clarion | So. | 14.4 | 13.3 | 51.7% | 72.1% | 2.0 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| Jen Papich* | Gannon | Jr. | 13.2 | 5.8 | 46.3% | 74.3% | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| Kiara Brown | Edinboro | Sr. | 17.6 | 3.8 | 39.1% | 76.8% | 3.1 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| Samantha Blazetic | Edinboro | Sr. | 14.9 | 7.7 | 48.7% | 71.4% | 1.5 | 2.4 | 1.2 |
| Stephanie Michael | California | Sr. | 13.6 | 2.5 | 37.2% | 81.3% | 1.8 | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| Sarah Pastorek | IUP | Sr. | 13.6 | 5.5 | 44.4% | 81.5% | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.0 |
*PSAC West Athlete of the Year
