Ritz, Belknap Earn First Team All-MEC Honors
WLU’s Tingle garners second team accolades
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BRIDGEPORT -- Wheeling University junior forward Lilly Ritz was named to the All-Mountain East Conference (MEC) first team announced the league office Tuesday afternoon.
Ritz earned her second straight nod on the first team after filling up the stat sheet every night this season. She registered a double-double in all 16 games and averaged 24.0 points and 17.6 rebounds per game. Ritz has posted a double-double in each of the past 31 games dating back to the 2019-20 season. The all-time record is 34 straight games, which was established by Kari Daugherty of Ashland over the course of the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.
She currently ranks among the top-five in Division II in multiple categories. Ritz leads Division II by over two rebounds per game in the category, she ranks second in the MEC and third nationally in points per game, and second in Division II in double doubles. The national leader in double doubles has played in three more games than Ritz.
In addition to points and rebounds, Ritz ranks 17th in Division II with 2.31 blocked shots per game, sixth with 153 field goals made and 21st with a 56.7 field-goal percentage.
West Liberty University senior guards Olivia Belknap was a first-team All-MEC selection while teammate Audrey Tingle collected second-team All-MEC honors.
Belknap, a 5-foot-7 scoring ace from Dover, Ohio, leads the Hilltoppers in scoring and ranks among the top 10 scores in the MEC at 19.6 points per game. She scored 20 or more points in 11 of WLU's 16 games and went for 30 or more on three occasions. She earned MEC Player of the Week honors late last month when she scored a career-high 40 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in a win at Frostburg State.
The veteran sharpshooter ranks among the MEC's Top 10 in numerous offensive categories, including points per game (19.6), field goal percentage (10th, 104-228, .456), 3-point field goal percentage (10th, 37-114, .325), free throw percentage (3rd, 68-85, .800), field goals per game (2.31 per game) and total 3-point field goals (37).
Tingle, a 5-6 point guard from West Lafayette, Ohio, not only leads the MEC in assists (108) and assists per game (6.75 per game) by a wide margin, she leads all active NCAA Division II women in career assists (632) and career assists per game (6.26 per game). The southpaw guard was also an MEC Player of the Week pick after posting a rare triple-double - 21 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists - in a February win at Davis & Elkins.
Charleston's Brooklyn Pannell was selected as the MEC Player of the Year. Pannell led the MEC in scoring at 25.5 points per game and ranked second in the country in that category in the regular season.