Katie Webster was named the Lone Star Conference Academic Player of the Year at the annual postseason awards banquet Wednesday night in Frisco. The senior was also an all-conference selection alongside teammates Mackenzie Hailey, McKinley Bostad and Kaylee Allen.
“It’s truly an honor to have that many young ladies on the All-LSC teams, especially considering how competitive this conference is and how many outstanding players represent this conference,” said head coach Misty Wilson. “However, I hope that what we have instilled in our players regarding our team trumps any feeling that comes with individual awards.
“The leadership, intensity, dedication and sacrifice that Mackenzie, McKinley, Kaylee, and Katie have demonstrated consistently this year has been a blessing to our team and we hope that they will continue in those ways because at the end of the day, it is the team that wins,” she added.
This is the fifth time a Tarleton student-athlete has earned the league’s top academic honor from the Lone Star Conference. Webster becomes the fourth player in program history to earn the honor – joining Iveta Griffin (2006), Shelby Adamson (2011, 2012), and Bailey Wipff (2017). Webster is a senior kinesiology major from Rockwall and was recently named CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team. (Photos by Russell Huffman and David Swearingen)
“I am extremely proud of Katie for earning the Academic Player of the Year award,” said Wilson. “That shows her dedication, not only on the court but off as well. Academic success is something we pride ourselves on within our program.”
In addition to Webster’s superlative honor, Tarleton had four players recognized among the league’s finest players.
Mackenzie Hailey earned her third straight all-conference honor and the second consecutive season as a member of the league’s first team. She joins Shelby Adamson and Kiara Wright as the only TexAnns in program history with multiple first-team honors in a career. Hailey is fifth in the Lone Star Conference in scoring (15.0) and eighth in the league in rebounding (7.0) per game, in addition to boasting the third-highest field goal percentage in the league (.535).
During her first-team all-conference season, Hailey moved into eighth-place in Tarleton’s all-time scoring list and became the seventh player in program history to occupy a spot in the program’s top 10 scoring and rebounding list.
In addition to her All-LSC First Team selection, Hailey also continued to rack up the defensive praise as she was named to the LSC All-Defensive Team for the third consecutive season. As the newest award presented by the LSC, Hailey has occupied a spot on the league’s all-defensive team since its inception in 2017.
McKinley Bostad and Webster earned second-team All-LSC honors by the coaches of the Lone Star Conference.
Both players earned their second consecutive all-conference accolades after earning third-team nods last season. Bostad is tied with Hailey for the fifth-most points per game in the conference (15.0) and ended the regular season by scoring double figures in 18 straight games. Meanwhile, Webster finished the season averaging 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Webster was also named to the league’s All-Academic team.
Rounding out the list of award winners was newcomer, Kaylee Allen.
The senior transfer made quite the splash in her debut season at Tarleton and was named to the All-LSC Third Team. Allen is third on the team in scoring with 14.1 points per game and is second in the LSC in steals per game (2.6). She has already moved into the program’s top-15 all-time in three-point field goals made (51) and attempted (139) in a single season.
Tarleton will open the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament on Friday at noon against MSU Texas at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
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