BURNSVILLE, MN - After an outstanding regular season campaign, Lexie Schneider is the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's Player of the Year for her tremendous efforts during the 2023-24 season. Schneider is the second UMary student-athlete to win this honor, joining Cassie Askvig, who won in 2019.
 
The NSIC also announced Schneider (1^st team), Megan Zander (1^st team) and Mariah McKeever (2^nd team) to the Northern Sun All-Conference teams.
 
Schneider (2022, 2024) and Zander (2023, 2024) join Linda Murray (2012, 2014), Gabbie Bohl (2018, 2019), Cassie Askvig (2019, 2020) and Lauren Rotunda (2020, 2021) as the only Marauders to ever earn two first-team All-NSIC selections, all of whom were coached by UMary Head Coach Rick Neumann.
 
Schneider leads the NSIC in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. The Appleton, WI, native averaged 20.4 points per game, 9.2 rebounds per game and shot 54.2% from the field. She is also 7^th in the NSIC in free throw percentage (.808) and blocked shots (1.1 bpg) and 15^th in assists (2.5 apg) in league games. Additionally 12 of her 14 double doubles came in NSIC contests.
 
Just the third women's basketball player to earn six NSIC Player of the Week honors in one season in the past 20 years, Schneider is only the seventh player in NSIC history to lead the league in both scoring and rebounding. She finished her NSIC career with 1,146 points and 633 rebounds, just the 11th player to ever reach both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in NSIC games, which was also accomplished by former UMary teammates Gabbie Bohl and Cassie Askvig.
 
Currently Schneider ranks 6^th in the NCAA in scoring, 2^nd in free throws made, 8^th in double-doubles, and 12^th in total rebounds. Schneider is 9th all-time in scoring (1,569 points) at UMary and 4th in rebounding (915).
 
Zander earned her first-team selection by averaging 13.1 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. Zander knocked down the most threes on the team (53). The Mandan, ND, native impacted the game in several ways as she ranked 16^th in the NSIC in scoring, 15^th in rebounding, 6^th in 3-pointers made per game, 21^st in assists per game, 13^th in blocks per game and 21^st in steals per game. She has scored over 1,000 points in her collegiate career and is eight points shy of scoring 1,000 points at UMary alone in her three seasons with the Marauders.
 
McKeever was named to the second-team All-NSIC after posting 12.1 ppg and leading UMary in three-point percentage (41.1%) and free-throw percentage (84.4%). McKeever ranks 23rd in the NSIC in scoring, 3rd in free-throw percentage, 9th in 3-pointers made per game, 25th in assists per game and 17th in minutes per game. In her first season at UMary as a graduate transfer, McKeever was a 2nd team All-NSIC selection in 2022-23 for MSU Moorhead and cacked the 1,000 point barrier earlier in the season.
 
The Marauders are 20-10 overall and finished second in the NSIC with a record of 16-6 in league games. The 16 wins and the 2^nd place finish are both program highs.
 
UMary takes on St. Cloud State University in the quarterfinals of the 2024 NSIC women's basketball tournament on Saturday, March 2 at 7 pm in Sioux Falls, SD, at the Sanford Pentagon. 
 
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