ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- After turning in one of the top all-around seasons in Missouri State history and leading the Lady Bears to a third-place regular-season Missouri Valley Conference finish, Casey Garrison has been named 2009-10 Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year. The sophomore guard was honored at the league's awards ceremony Thursday on opening night of the State Farm MVC Tournament at The Family Arena after being selected for the MVC's top individual award by the conference's head coaches, media members and sports information directors.
Garrison becomes the sixth Missouri State player to receive Valley MVP recognition, joining an impressive list of former Lady Bears who have earned the league's top honor, including Secelia Winkfield (1993), Melody Howard (1994), Kari Koch (2004), Jenni Lingor (2005) and the award's namesake, Jackie Stiles (1999, 2000 and 2001). Along with Stiles and Koch, Garrison is the third MSU sophomore to be named conference MVP. She also becomes one of just five previous Valley players to be honored as the league's Freshman and Player of the Year in successive seasons, joining Stiles, Koch, Drake's Wanda Ford and Illinois State's Kristi Cirone.
A sophomore from Bolivar, Mo., Garrison led the conference in scoring (19.8 ppg) and steals (2.9 spg) and ranked second in assists (5.3 apg) during the regular season to spearhead the Lady Bears' turnaround from a 10-20 season a year ago to a 20-9 record and third-place Valley finish. The 6-0 guard was the only Division I women's basketball player to in the nation to rank among the top 30 individuals in those same three categories through games of March 7, and also ranked among the MVC's leaders in offensive rebounding (3.1 rpg), assist-turnover ratio (1.9) minutes played (35.9 mpg), field-goal percentage (.492), rebounding (7.3 rpg) and free-throw percentage (.834) during the regular season.
Garrison's total of 573 points on the season is ninth all-time at MSU and equals the 24th-best figure in MVC history. She needs just 14 additional points to crack the Valley's top 20 single-season scoring list.
A three-time MVC Player of the Week honoree in 2009-10, Garrison recorded just the second triple-double in school history on Dec. 8 vs. Tulsa, after posting one of the top individual performances in school history with a 35-point, 17-rebound effort in MSU's win at Arkansas State (Nov. 27) that snapped a 17-game road losing streak in the month of November. She also put her stamp on the Lady Bears' and MVC's career record books in her second collegiate campaign, topping the 1,000-point plateau in just her 57th career game, becoming the second-fastest to reach the mark in Missouri Valley Conference history,
Garrison also became the 12th player in MSU history to be named first-team all-conference for a second time Wednesday when the Valley announced its postseason all-conference teams. She picked up her first career all-defensive team nod as well after leading the league in steals per game and ranking sixth in rebounds per game.
Other Valley specialty award winners announced Thursday included Rawling's Coach of the Year honoree Robin Pingeton of Illinois State, Newcomer of the Year Stephany Neptune of Southern Illinois, Defensive Player of the Year Sonya Harris of Bradley and Freshman of the Year Christiana Shorter of Missouri State.
The Lady Bears will begin their quest for an unprecedented 10th MVC Tournament title when they face off against Wichita State this Friday at 8:35 p.m.
