WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
GAMBIER, Ohio — With Tuesday’s release of the 2024 NCAA Division III women’s basketball Academic All-District team, selected by members of College Sports Communicators (CSC), the Kenyon College Owls learned of four honorees. That quartet included senior Claudia Cooke, and sophomores Anissa Hardy, Grace Murphy and Mikayla Rudolph.
To be eligible for the honor, a student-athlete had to be a key contributor who participated in at least 90 percent of the team’s competitions or started 66 percent of those competitions. The student-athlete had to be on the team’s active roster for at least two years and, most importantly, had to possess a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.50.
Each NCAA Division III institution was allotted a maximum of four nominations.
Cooke, a chemistry major, was the Owls’ top player throughout the 2023-24 campaign. She started all 26 games and led the team in points (15.4 ppg) and rebounds (8.0 rpg). Those averages ranked second and third, respectively, among all players in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). She was named a 2024 All-NCAC second-team honoree and concluded her three-year Kenyon basketball career with 928 points and 604 rebounds.
Hardy, a sociology major, shared time with Cooke in the Kenyon frontcourt. She earned 17 starts, while averaging 6.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. That rebounding average ranked seventh best among all players in the conference. She also edged Cooke, 36-35, for the team lead in blocked shots.
Murphy, a guard, played in all 26 games and started a dozen of them. She contributed averages of 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds per contest, while also serving up 28 assists to go along with six steals and a trio of blocked shots.
Rudolph was the Owls’ third-leading scorer with an average of 8.1 points per game. The psychology major also averaged 4.3 rebounds per game from her forward position. She buried 20 three-pointers during the season and her final season stat line also included team-highs of 46 assists and 21 steals.
