Tricia Cullop Named MAC Coach of the Year, Quinesha Lockett Earns First-Team All-MAC
3/8/2022 11:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TOLEDO, Ohio – Five members of the Toledo women's basketball team and head coach Tricia Cullop were recognized with postseason distinctions by the Mid-American Conference, the league announced Tuesday.
For the fourth time in her career, Cullop was named MAC Coach of the Year after leading the Rockets to a 25-4 record (19-1 MAC) and a MAC regular season title. Juniors Quinesha Lockett and Sophia Wiard both earned All-MAC honors, with Lockett being named to the First Team and Wiard to the Second Team. Junior Hannah Noveroske was named the league's Sixth Player of the Year while freshman Jessica Cook and sophomore Khera Goss were named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team and All-Defensive Team, respectively.
Five players earning postseason MAC honors is a school record. Multiple Toledo teams have placed four players on the postseason award list, most recently the 2015-16 squad (Brenae Harris, Janice Monakana, Kaayla McIntyre, Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott).
Toledo enters the MAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play No. 8 Ohio at 11:00 a.m. on ESPN+ on Wednesday, March 9.
Below is a look at Toledo's six award winners:
Coach of the Year – Tricia Cullop
Cullop is the third head coach in league history to earn Coach of the Year honors four times, joining former Rocket coach Mark Ehlen (four) and former Bowling Green coach Curt Miller (six). She guided a team that was picked to finish eighth in the preseason coaches' poll to a conference-record 19 MAC wins and the 10th regular season championship in school history. Cullop reached an impressive personal milestone earlier in the season, notching her 400th career victory.
First-Team All-MAC – Quinesha Lockett
Now a two-time All-MAC honoree after being named a third-team selection last year, Lockett becomes the 17th first-team selection in program history and the first since Brenae Harris in 2015-16. Lockett is averaging 17.6 PPG and 5.6 RPG this season, having scored in double figures in 27 of 29 contests. She ranks eighth in the MAC in scoring and has 13 20-point games, one of five players in the league with that many. Lockett reached the 1,000-point benchmark earlier this season and enters the MAC Tournament in 17th place all-time in scoring in Toledo history.
Second-Team All-MAC – Sophia Wiard
The Rockets' floor general, Wiard is an All-MAC honoree for the first time in her career. She is averaging 12.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 4.5 APG in 28 games and leads the MAC in assist/turnover ratio (2.50). Wiard can really stuff the box score; she has 20 games with at least 10 points, 14 games with at least five assists, and 11 games with at least seven rebounds. Wiard is also one of the top free throw shooters in the MAC (84.8 percent) and her 83.8 career free throw percentage is the best in school history.
Sixth Player of the Year – Hannah Noveroske
Noveroske is the second Sixth Player award winÂner in school history, joining Kaayla McIntyre (2015-16). She is averaging 7.1 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in 27 games in a primarily reserve role. Noveroske has scored in double figures six times this season and has five games with at least nine rebounds. She uses her size well too, tallying multiple blocks in seven games and making 60.5 percent of her shots (78-for-129) from the floor.
All-Freshman Team – Jessica Cook
Cook immediately became a key contributor for the Rockets, starting 19 of the 27 games she has played in while averaging 8.6 PPG and 5.8 RPG. Cook has 11 games with at least 10 points and three double-digit rebound performances on her resume already, and she is shooting a robust 50.8 percent from the field. Her career began with a bang as she posted back-to-back double-doubles in her first two career games. Cook crashes the offensive boards as well as anyone, averaging 3.22 ORPG, sixth-best in the MAC.
All-Defensive Team – Khera Goss
Goss is the third all-defensive team selection in Toledo history, joining Mikaela Boyd (2017-18) and Kaayla McIntyre (2018-19). One of the best defenders in the MAC, Goss typically draws the toughest defensive assignment night in and night out. She has eight games with multiple steals and is a key cog in the best defense in the conference. Led by Goss' defensive prowess, Toledo leads the MAC in scoring defense (59.79), field goal percentage defense (36.8 percent) and three-point field goal percentage defense (29.1 percent).
