South Bend Saint Joseph’s Arianna Rowell and Penn coach Kristi Ulrich have earned top accolades from the Northern Indiana Conference for the 2025-26 girls’ basketball season.
Freshman Rowell, who ranked as one of the state’s top scorers at 27.3 ppg, was named NIC MVP. Ulrich, who guided her Kingsmen team to the NIC title, was tabbed as NIC Coach of the Year.
Joining Rowell on the All-NIC first team were senior Shaniyah Stout of Elkhart, junior Amya Henry of South Bend Adams, sophomores Kariya Byer of Mishawaka Marian and Lexi Werner of Penn and freshman Jillian Sanderson of Penn.
The All-NIC second team included seniors Jordan Johnson of Elkhart and La’Faye Gibson of South Bend Riley. Also on the second team were junior Alivia Dawson of Penn, sophomore Isis Robbins of Elkhart and freshman Makenzie Juszczak of Penn.
The All-NIC honorable mention list included seniors Hannah Hawkins-Weisner of New Prairie and Lucy Hayden of St. Joe, along with junior Anna McCullough of Penn and freshmen Kyiah Kendall of South Bend Adams and Jada Jones of South Bend Washington.
Penn won the NIC title with a 7-0 mark. Elkhart was second at 6-1, followed by St. Joe (5-2), Adams (3-4), Riley (3-4), New Prairie (2-5), Marian (2-5) and Washington (0-7).
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Saint Joseph’s Rowell, Penn’s Ulrich earn top NIC girls basketball awards
Reporting by Scott Davidson, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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