ANGOLA, IND. -- Trine University women's basketball players Brandi Dawson (Garrett, Ind./Garrett) and Cassidy Williams (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) have both been selected to the 2019 D3hoops.com All-Great Lakes Region Team for their individual efforts this past season. Dawson earned first-team honors and Williams was tabbed as a third-team selection.
[2019 D3hoops.com All-Great Lakes Region]
Dawson repeats as a first-team All-Region pick for the third straight season. As a senior, Dawson led the team in several statistical categories including: points (499), points per game (17.8), total rebounds (144), rebounds per game (5.1), free-throws made (92), free-throw attempts (119), field goals made (199) and field goal attempts (365). She was also among the team leaders in assists (46), blocked shots (10) and steals (31).
Her 17.8 ppg. average was the second highest in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and her 499 points led the conference. She also ranked in the top-five in free-throws made (4th - 92), free-throw percentage (2nd - 77.3), field goals made (1st - 199) and field goal percentage (2nd - 54.5).
Dawson scored in double figures in all but two games this past season with 13 games of 20 or more points and a season-high 28-point effort in a win against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in late December.
For her career, Dawson finished third on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,670 career points. She is the program's all-time leader in field goals made with 683 and career starts with 110 in 111 total games played and her .538 lifetime shooting percentage is tied for third best all-time. Dawson attempted 1,269 shots which rank as the fourth highest in school history. In addition, she ranks in a tie for fourth in free-throws made (277), fifth in free-throw attempts (363), ninth in free-throw percentage (76.3), tied for sixth in rebounds (591), fourth in blocks (64), second in minutes played (3,188) and fifth in minutes per game (28.7).
In addition to being named All-Region for the third time in her career, Dawson was named the MIAA "Most Valuable Player" for the third straight season and garnered first-team All-MIAA honors in back-to-back-to-back years, making her a four-time All-Conference selection overall (2015-16 second-team All-MIAA).
Williams caps her playing career at Trine with her first All-Region recognition. Williams finished second on the team in scoring in 2018-19 at 12.5 ppg. while shooting 49.2 percent (120-of-244) from the field. She was second behind Dawson in free-throw shooting with 80 makes in 107 attempts for a 74.8 percentage. She was also second in three-point shooting converting 31-of-87 attempts (35.6 percent). Williams scored in double figures in 22 games, including a career-high effort of 21 points in a 64-43 win against Marietta (Ohio) College in late November.
Williams led the team, and was ranked fourth in the MIAA, in assists with 93 and was also tied for the team-lead in steals with 42. In addition, she ended the year among the team leaders in rebounding with 103 total boards (13 offensive and 90 defensive) and averaged 3.7 rebounds per game.
To go along with her All-Region award, Williams was a first-team All-MIAA selection.
The duo helped lead Trine to a school record-tying 26 victories (26-3) this past season, including finishing the conference regular-season undefeated (16-0) for the first time in program history, and claim its second outright conference regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in the last three years (2016-17 and 2018-19). The Thunder shared the conference regular-season championship last year (2017-18). Trine also made a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2018-19 where the Thunder advanced to the second round.