Olivet College’s Austin and Hankins earn All-MIAA honors for women’s basketball

FREELAND, Mich. – Olivet College seniors Dallas Austin and Shauni Hankins have earned All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association second-team honors for women's basketball. All-conference honors are based on the player's statistics during the 16-game league schedule.

Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Nicole Burford, the Comets enter tonight's MIAA Tournament game with a 13-12 overall record and finished fourth in the MIAA standings with a 9-7 record. Olivet has also posted its fourth straight season with a .500 or better record, the longest streak of its type in school history.

"We are excited to finish the season in the top four again and get another shot at getting to the MIAA finals," said Burford. "That has been our goal from start to finish and we have been plugging away towards that. Our ladies have been resilient, when we've knocked down, they've got up and fought their way through.

"We are a different team from the last two seasons and I think it took us a little time to find our identity and embrace it. We have a lot of solid players. When they play well together and have the right mentality, we're a pretty solid team."

Austin started all 16 games for the Comets at the forward position. She filled the stat sheet in a variety of ways, averaging 7.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. Austin scored a single-game high 17 points in a 70-66 win at Alma College, and grabbed a single-game best 14 rebounds in an 80-68 win against Adrian College. Overall in 26 games, she has averages of 6.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Austin leads the team with 22 blocks and shares for the team lead with 46 steals.

"Dallas has been great for us this year," said Burford. "She's been a floor leader since day one....always one of our vocal players and ready to do whatever you ask of her. Dallas elevated her offensive effectiveness and will finish the game with multiple positive stats."

Hankins was the starting point guard in every MIAA game, averaging a team-best 11.1 points per game and dished out a team-high 43 assists. Her single-game scoring high was 20 points in a 61-48 win at Saint Mary's (Ind.) College. For the entire season, Hankins led the Comets in scoring at 10.2 ppg, including a team-best 24 baskets from behind the three-point arc.

"Shauni has stepped it up this year and been more consistent for us," said Burford. "She's really taken over the role of being one of our main scores and playmakers and is getting better at her decision making the more she plays. Our team tends to really feed off of how Shauni plays and look to her to set the tone."