Keane, Johnson, Merchant clean up
A certain women's basketball writer I know seemed convinced that Jantel Lavender was a lock, but the Big Ten announced today that MSU's Kalisha Keane has been named Big Ten Player of the Year by the coaches. (OK, so Lavender did win the media vote). Suzy Merchant is Coach of the Year (as expected), and Lykendra Johnson is Defensive Player of the Year.
Michigan State's Kalisha Keane was named the Big Ten women's Player of the Year by the league's coaches today.
Senior forward Keane, from Ajax, Ontario, became the school's first conference player of the year. Also honored was Spartans coach Suzy Merchant, who swept the coach of the year honors in both the media and coaches ballots.
Keane is averaging 16.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals a game this season for the regular-season champion Spartans, who will open play as the No. 1 seed at the Big Ten Tournament on Friday in Indianapolis.
Merchant, in her fourth year at MSU, is the first Spartans coach since Joanne P. McCallie in 2005 to earn the league's top coaching award.
Lykendra Johnson was named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year and joined Keane on the first-team all-Big Ten team as selected by the media. Johnson, a junior from Chicago, also earned second-team honors from the coaches.
Ohio State senior center Jantel Lavender was named the league's top player by the media. Her and Keane were both unanimous first-team picks by the coaches. She led the Big Ten in scoring (22.6 points) and rebounding (10.7) en route to her fourth Player of the Year award
MSU senior guard Brittney Thomas was an honorable mention selection by both the coaches and the media.
