WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: UND's Madi Buck named Big Sky Conference MVP

The UND women’s basketball team surprised a lot of people and became the No. 1 team in the Big Sky Conference this season.

In less of a surprise, North Dakota senior Madi Buck became the No. 1 player in the league.

Buck, a Bismarck native, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Big Sky on Monday when the league announced its awards.

UND was well represented in the honors as sophomore Mia Loyd was named to the all-Big Sky Conference second team, while junior Emily Evers was co-reserve of the year and sophomore Kelsey Knox collected top newcomer honors.

Buck, who was all-conference honorable mention last year, was awarded the top spot by a vote of the league coaches.

At the regular season’s end, she sits amongst the league leaders in a host of statistical categories. She is fourth in scoring (16.3 points per game), fifth in rebounding (7.5 rebounds per game), seventh in free throw percentage (.816) and ninth in steals (1.8 steals per game).

Buck’s 37-poing showing against North Dakota State on Dec. 14 stands as the most points scored by a Big Sky player this season.

She becomes UND’s first-ever Big Sky player of the year and just second since the program transitioned to NCAA Division I (Kayla Bagaason, Great West, 2010). Buck is the 10th player to earn the conference MVP award in program history.

Loyd leads the league in rebounding at 5-foot-11. Her 9.0 rebounds per game are a full board better than any other player in the conference and her 22-rebound performance on Dec. 18 stands as the most by a league player this season.

Loyd and Buck both have eight double doubles, while Loyd is eighth in the league in scoring at 13.7 points per game.

Evers, a Grand Forks native, started 21 games a season ago but has been the first off the bench for North Dakota this season. Averaging just over 16 minutes per game, Evers still manages to post nearly eight points and six rebounds per contest to go along with 41 total blocks.

Knox, a sophomore transfer from Johnson County Community College, worked her way into the starting lineup in her first season at UND. Following the loss of Megan Lauck to a season-ending injury, Knox has started 23 contests and has produced overall numbers of 5.3 points, 3.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game.

The quartet of North Dakota honorees have helped UND to its first-ever Big Sky Conference regular season co-championship and the first seed in the upcoming league tournament set to start Thursday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

UND has earned a bye into the semifinals and will play the lowest remaining seed on Friday at 5 p.m.