Three IU women’s basketball players were honored by the Big Ten on Monday. It was the usual suspects for the Hoosiers.
Senior guard Tyra Buss, senior forward Amanda Cahill and freshman guard Jaelynn Penn were all named to All-Big Ten teams for the 2017-18 season. Buss was selected to the All-Big Ten First team, Cahill to the second team and Penn to the All-Freshman team.
For Buss, who was a unanimous selection to the team by the coaches, the distinction was her third straight first team selection of her career, making her the third IU women’s basketball player to do so. The first two were Denise Jackson from 1981-84 and Karna Abram from 1985-87.
On the year, Buss has averaged 20.4 points, 4.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game on her way to breaking the all-time IU record in each category. She’s also shot 43.2 percent from the field and 35.4 from behind the arc while also breaking the IU records for free throws attempted, free throws made and 3-pointers attempted.
Cahill also made her third straight All-Big Ten team. She has been a second team selection in each of her past three seasons. Cahill has proven to be one of IU’s most consistent contributors on both ends of the floor this season by averaging 14.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 steals on the year.
During the 2017-18 campaign, she became just the third IU women’s basketball player to record 1,000 career rebounds. She currently sits at third all-time in program history in rebounds and double-doubles and fourth in three-pointers made.
Buss and Cahill also lead the Big Ten in minutes played, averaging 39.6 and 37.7 minutes per game respectively.
Meanwhile, Penn became the first Hoosier women’s player to be named to the All- Freshman team since 2014 when Larryn Brooks was named to the team. She has come on strong in the second half of her debut season at IU and has averaged 10.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game on the year. She’s also been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice during back-to-back weeks on Jan. 22 and Jan. 29.
After wrapping up their regular season schedule at Iowa on Saturday, the Hoosiers will be the seven seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will play tenth-seeded Michigan State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Murphy Wheeler
