Amber Dvorak puts up a shot in a recent game vs. University of Missouri-St. Louis (photo/Drury Athletics)
First-year Drury coach Steve Huber was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year by league coaches in post-season women’s basketball awards. Huber, a long-time NCAA Division I assistant coach before coming to Drury, has guided the Lady Panthers to a 24-2 overall mark, including a 16-2 record in GLVC play – and another West Division title, the program’s seventh in nine years as a member – with a squad that suffered the loss of two projected starters last to August to transfer and was picked to finish fifth in the West by the league’s coaches.
Amber Dvorak, the 6-foot-7 graduate student and transfer from Minnesota, was named a unanimous selection to the All-GLVC First Team, while senior guard Bethanie Funderburk was a Second Team All-GLVC choice. In addition, Dvorak has been named to the All-Defensive team.
Dvorak, despite coming off the bench for all but one game this season, leads Drury with her 16.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.96 blocked shots per game.
Funderburk, in picking up some level of All-GLVC honors for the fourth consecutive year, averages 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds and has become Drury’s all-time No. 2 scoring leader with 1,658 points.
The Lady Panthers, ranked seventh nationally in the latest Top 25 Poll, will enter Thursday’s Deaconess GLVC Championships post-season tourney quarterfinals in Evansville, Ind., as the top seed. Drury will play No. 8 seed Maryville at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ford Center.
Other award-winners announced by the league include Rockhurst’s Mary Dineen garnering the league’s Freshman of the Year honor.