BIG EAST Announces Women’s Basketball Major Awards DePaul’s Brooke Schulte becomes third consecutive Blue Demon to be voted BIG EAST Player of the Year

BIG EAST women’s basketball co-regular season champions Creighton and DePaul took home the lion’s share of major awards, the Conference unveiled on Wednesday. Blue Demon senior guard Brooke Schulte was unanimously selected as BIG EAST Player of the Year, DePaul’s Doug Bruno was voted Coach of the Year and the Bluejays’ Jaylyn Agnew was tabbed Freshman of the Year by a vote of the league’s 10 head coaches.Additionally, Schulte shared BIG EAST Most Improved Player honors with Creighton senior Brianna Rollerson; DePaul sophomore guard Tanita Allen earned the Sixth-Woman Award; Creighton senior guard Lauren Works earned the Sportsmanship Award; while DePaul senior forward Jacqui Grant and St. John’s senior guard Aaliyah Lewis shared Defensive Player of the Year plaudits.Schulte becomes the third consecutive BIG EAST Player of the Year from DePaul, following Chanise Jenkins in 2016 and Brittany Hrynko in 2015. The senior made a remarkable rise beginning in late December when teammate and Preseason Player of the Year Jessica January went down with an injury, which kept her sidelined for all but two-and-a-half BIG EAST games. Schulte bumped her scoring average from 11.2 points per game prior to January’s injury, to 21.6 without the fellow senior in the lineup, and claimed the league’s scoring title, averaging 20.8 points per game over 18 conference contests. The senior guard also ranked in the top five in rebounding and field goal percentage among all BIG EAST players, guiding the nationally ranked Blue Demons to a fourth consecutive regular-season crown. The five-time BIG EAST Player of the Week was also tabbed BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year yesterday, and was one of just two unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selections.Bruno claims top coaching honors for the third time in four years after guiding DePaul to a 16-2 BIG EAST record and a 24-6 overall mark. The Blue Demons claimed a share of their fourth consecutive regular-season title, as the graduating seniors of DePaul become the first senior class since Connecticut’s Class of 2011 to win a crown every year. The Blue Demons overcame many obstacles this season, with projected starter Mart’e Grays sustaining an injury in preseason which kept her out the whole year, starter Ashton Millender has been sidelined since early December and the previously mentioned January absence. Despite the hardships, DePaul clinched the BIG EAST Tournament’s No. 1 seed for a third time in four years, remained in the top 25 every week this season and boasted one of the most potent offenses in the nation, averaging a BIG EAST-best 81.2 points per game.Agnew provided quality depth for Creighton, coming off the bench in all 18 BIG EAST games to average 8.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals, to go along with a .430 shooting clip. The redshirt-freshman led the Bluejays in scoring twice this season and racked up double-digits in scoring in eight contests, highlighted by a 21-point outing at nationally ranked DePaul in January. Creighton boasted the most experienced roster in the league this season, with Agnew bolstering the lineup to lead the Bluejays to a share of their first BIG EAST regular-season title, their highest seed in BIG EAST Tournament history at No. 2, and their first national ranking since 1992. Agnew is the first BIG EAST Freshman of the Year out of Creighton.Grant and Allen were also instrumental in DePaul’s success this season, with Grant anchoring the defensive effort with a league-best 1.7 blocks per game and the second-highest rebounding clip at 10.3 boards per game. The senior totaled a league-high 11 double-doubles in conference play, including a 27-point, 17-rebound outing against Marquette. Allen came off the bench in all 18 league games for the Blue Demons but still ranked fifth on the squad in scoring at 10.3 points per game to go along with 5.9 rebounds and .455 shooting. Allen scored in double figures nine times in conference play, including a 30-point outing at Seton Hall in January. Grant is the first Defensive Player of the Year for DePaul, while Allen is the Blue Demons’ second recipient of the Sixth Woman Award (Taylor Pikes, 2011).Rollerson made a notable improvement from an injury riddled junior year which included a Jones fracture which limited her to just 2.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 2015-16, compared to this season’s showing of 10.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. The senior racked up five double-doubles in BIG EAST play, fifth most among league players, and provided a commanding defensive presence in the paint as the Bluejays were outrebounded just five times this conference season. Rollerson is the second Creighton player to be tabbed Most Improved (Alexis Akin-Otiko, 2015).Works provides the energetic spark for Creighton on and off the court, as the senior guard is rarely seen without a smile and is always known to help a fallen opponent off the floor. She averaged 8.3 points, 5.1 rebounds in league play. Off the court, Works is a leader in the community, volunteering at the Abide Center, an inner city, non-profit organization designed to improve local neighborhoods of Omaha. Works is the second Bluejay in three years to earn the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award (Marissa Janning, 2015).Defense has been the calling card of St. John’s this season, with Lewis leading that charge. The senior guard is consistently tasked with the opponents’ top perimeter player and has posted 1.2 steals per game while playing a BIG EAST-high 38.5 minutes per contest. The Red Storm has the league’s stingiest defense overall, limiting opponents to just 56.0 points per game, while holding nine teams to 50 points or fewer this year. Lewis becomes the second straight St. John’s player to garner the league’s top defensive award following Aliyyah Handford in 2016.Brooke Schulte, DePaul, Sr., G*Doug Bruno, DePaulJaylyn Agnew, Creighton, R-Fr., FJacqui Grant, DePaul, Sr., FAaliyah Lewis, St. John’s, Sr., GBrooke Schulte, DePaul, Sr., GBrianna Rollerson, Creighton, Sr., FLauren Works, Creighton, Sr., GTanita Allen, DePaul, So., G