CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --- The 2019-20 American Rivers All-Conference Women's Basketball Team as voted by the league's head coaches:

2019-20 All-American Rivers Conference Women's Basketball Team
Most Valuable Player Emma Gerdes, Sr., Wartburg
Defensive Player of the Year Laura Hamilton, Sr., Luther
Coach of the Year Bob Amsberry, Wartburg
Most Valuable Player	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown / High School
Emma Gerdes ^ &	Wartburg	Sr.	F	Cedar Falls, Iowa / Cedar Falls
Defensive Player of the Year	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown / High School
Laura Hamilton ~ > $ ! %	Luther	Sr.	F	Chanhassen, Minn. / Minnetonka
First Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown / High School
Jackie Feldt !	Coe	Jr.	G/F	West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley
Macenzie Kraemer @	Loras	Sr.	G	Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights
Marissa Schroeder $ !	Loras	Jr.	F	Bellevue, Iowa / Marquette Catholic
Laura Hamilton ~ > $ ! %	Luther	Sr.	F	Chanhassen, Minn. / Minnetonka
Sarah Holtz @	Luther	Sr.	G	Austin, Minn./Pacelli Catholic
Caitlin Navratil * $ !	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	G	Littleton, Colo. / Dakota Ridge
Amanda Brainerd !	Wartburg	Sr.	F	Dewitt, Iowa/Dewitt Central
Payton Draper	Wartburg	Jr.	F	Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock
Second Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown / High School
Kendall Brown@	Central	Sr.	F	Moravia, Iowa/Moravia
Kelsea Hurley	Central	Fr.	G	Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain
Madeline Wilkins @	Coe	Jr.	G	Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell
Kari Fitzpatrick !	Loras	Sr.	G	Greeley, Iowa/Edgewood-Colesburg
Courtney Schnoor	Loras	Jr.	F	Camanche, Iowa/Camanche
Cassie Chubb @	Simpson	Sr.	F	Des Moines, Iowa/Saydel
Claire Johnson @	Simpson	Sr.	G	Dakota Dunes, S.D./Dakota Valley
Cameron Kincaid #	Simpson	Jr.	F	Olathe, Kan./Olathe East
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown / High School
Erin Gerke #	Buena Vista	Jr.	G	Newell, Iowa/Newell-Fonda
Jamie Feldt	Coe	Jr.	G	West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley
Miah "Mimi" Smith #	Dubuque	So.	F	Matteson, Ill./Rich Central
Madilyn Heinke	Luther	Sr.	F	Seymour, Wis./Seymour
Madi Spence ^	Luther	Sr.	F	Glenwood Springs, Colo./Glenwood Springs
Kia Rasmussen	Simpson	So.	G	Irwin, Iowa/IKM-Manning
Jenna Taylor ^ !	Simpson	Jr.	F	Creston, Iowa / Creston
Ally Conrad #	Wartburg	Jr.	G	Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls
Tori Hazard ^ @	Wartburg	Jr.	F	Janesville, Iowa / Janesville
Kaitlyn Volesky	Wartburg	Jr.	F	Mount Vernon, Iowa/Mount Vernon
Previous Honors
& - 2018-19 MVP
% - 2018-19 Defensive Player of the Year
! - 2018-19 First Team All-Conference
@ - 2018-19 Second Team All-Conference
# - 2018-19 Honorable Mention
$ - 2017-18 First Team All-Conference
> - 2017-18 Defensive Player of the Year

The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced today its major women's basketball awards and the 17-member All-Conference team for the 2019-20 season. For the second-consecutive year, Wartburg College senior guard Emma Gerdes (Jr., Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) has been named the American Rivers Most Valuable Player and picking up the league's Defensive Player of the Year accolades for the third-straight season is Luther College forward Laura Hamilton (Jr., Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka). Wartburg College head coach Bob Amsberry earned the honor of American Rivers Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.  

Gerdes followed up a breakout junior year with and exceptional senior season to garner league MVP honors for the second-consecutive year. Additionally, Gerdes was an honorable mention honoree as a sophomore. The senior guard's efforts helped the Knights four-peat as regular season and conference tournament champions, as well as earning a fifth-consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

The Cedar Falls prep joins five former Wartburg players to earn conference MVP honors (Kathy Smith, 1990; Kathy Roberts 1992; Holly Mohs 2001 & 2002; Samantha Harrington 2011; Katie Sommer 2017 & 2018). 

In 16 league contests Gerdes led the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.0 and ranked second in assists per game (4.9). She averaged 12.6 points per game (ppg), 4.4 rebounds per game (rpg), and 2.3 steals per game (spg). Additionally, she shot 90% from the free throw line, making 27-of-30 during conference play. Nationally, she ranks 19th in total assists (134), 28th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.94), and 29th in assists per game (5.0). 

Hamilton totaled 65 steals for an average of 4.1 over 16 league games to lead the conference, numbers that matcher her junior season output. In this her final season for the Norse, she averaged 11.8 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, and totaled 15 blocked shots. Hamilton also led the conference in total assists (83) and assists per game (5.2). On the national level, she ranks 9th in steals per game (3.68), 13th in total steals (92), 30th in assists per game (4.9), and 34th in total assists (123).

Since the league began honoring a Defensive Player of the Year in 2010-11, the Minnetonka prep becomes just the second player to garner the accolade three-straight seasons, joining Loras' Lori Obendorf (2017, 2016, 2015). Additionally, Hamilton was selected first-team all-conference, as the defensive player of the year is not honored as all-conference unless selected to the first or second team by the coaches. This is the third-straight season she was selected first-team, adding to her freshman season honorable mention recognition.

In Amsberry's 13th year at the helm of the Knights women's basketball program, he is taking team to the NCAA tournament for the fifth-straight season. Last year, Wartburg made it all the way to the Division III Elite Eight before bowing out. The Knights also advanced to the Final Four in 2018 and 2016. This year's trip to the Big Dance will mark the 14th time in program history. Wartburg will host this year's NCAA Division III Tournament first and second round games, where they will face Monmouth on Friday, March 6 at 8:00 p.m.

In 2019-20, the Wartburg Knights won the American Rivers Conference regular season and tournament crowns for a record setting fourth-consecutive year. Amsberry and assistants Kelley Jacobs, Tyler Amsberry, and Aaron Beadle led Wartburg to a 24-3 overall mark and a 14-2 record in conference play in 2019-20. Wartburg led the conference in scoring offense and scoring defense with 87.4 points per game and 60.5 points per game, respectively. The Knights also had league-bests in field goal percentage (.489), defensive field goal percentage (.360), three-point field goal percentage (.366), three-point field goals made per game (11.4), and rebounding margin (7.3). Amsberry's Coach of the Year honor is the third of his career (2020, 2018, 2017).

The American Rivers All-Conference first-team highlights players from five of the league's nine schools, with three players garnering first-team recognition for the third-straight year. Two players are picking up their second-straight first-team honor and three are making first team for the first time. 

As mentioned above, Luther’s Hamilton is earning her third first-team accolade to go along with her three Defensive Player of the Year honors and honorable mention recognition as a freshman.


Joining Hamilton as a first-team selection is Luther’s Sarah Holtz (Sr., Austin, Minn./Pacelli Catholic) who averaged 16.4 points per game in conference play. The senior led the team in free throw percentage (83.6%), points per game, and field goal percentage (42.8%). The marks were good for second, third, and sixth in the conference, respectively. The Austin, Minn. native also ranked fourth in the conference in rebounds per game (6.4), which was second-best for the Norse.  

In addition to Gerdes being recognized as an All-Conference performer with MVP accolades, Wartburg placed Amanda Brainerd (Sr., Dewitt, Iowa/Dewitt Central) and Payton Draper (Jr., Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) on first team. The honor is Brainerd’s second-straight and the first for Draper.
 
While averaging 10.1 points per game, Brainerd shot 42.3% from three-point range, ranking sixth in the conference with 2.0 made three-pointers per game. On the boards she averaged 5.1 rebounds per game during conference play. Draper average 10.7 points per game, while making 44-of-57 attempts at the free throw line. In 16 league games she shot 52.8% from the floor (56-of-106).


Jackie Feldt (Jr., West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) of Coe College averaged 17.6ppg on her way to back-to-back first-team selections. Her scoring mark was second in the A-R-C. The junior also shot 50.7% from the floor (3rd in A-R-C). The West Des Moines native got it done on the defensive side as well, ranking t-5^th in blocked shots (17) and sixth in rebounds per game (6.3).

Loras’ Macenzie Kraemer (Sr., Spring Green, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) and Marissa Schroeder (Jr., Bellevue, Iowa/Marquette Catholic) both garnered first-team selections for the Duhawks, helping Loras clinch back-to-back NCAA Tournament at-large bids.
 
Kraemer led the league in free throw percentage, shooting a solid 91.9% from the strike in conference play. She sat second in steals per game (3.6) and fifth in assists per game (3.6), both were team leading marks. Schroeder led the Duhawks in both rebounding (6.8rpg) and scoring (15.6ppg), ranking third and fourth in the conference respectively. The Bellevue, Iowa native was fourth in free throw percentage (81.9%) and field goal percentage (48.4%), with them being second-best marks on the team. This makes three-consecutive first-team selections for Schroeder and Kramer’s nod to the first-team, after collecting second-team honors a season ago.

Nebraska Wesleyan's Caitlin Navratil (Sr., Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) will go down as one of the greats in NWU women’s basketball as she picks up her third first-team selection. Additionally, she earned second-team accolades as a freshman. The senior led the conference in scoring for the third-straight season, averaging 23.8ppg. Navratil ranked fourth in field goal percentage (.492), 3-point field goals per game (2.3), assists per game (3.6), and steals per game (2.6).

The 17-member team includes 12 earning at least their second all-conference honor (first-second team), one moving up to from honorable mention recognition, and three earning honors for the first time.