June 27, 2017-Emporia State Lady Hornet basketball players Kathryn Flott and Kelly Moten are part of a record 543 female college athletes that have been nominated by NCAA member schools for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Established in 1991 and now in its 27th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. The school nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, with 229 from Division I, 117 from Division II and 197 from Division III. The nominees competed in 21 different women's sports, and 122 were multisport athletes during their time in college.
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. Next, conferences will select up to two conference nominees each from the pool of school nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees — 10 from each division. Moten and Flott are two of seven nominees from MIAA member schools. They are joined by fellow basketball player Natalie O'Keefe who also competes in track and field for Southwest Baptist, Lindenwood track and field athlete Kendra Smith, softball player Morgan Rathman from Missouri Western and volleyball players Annie Wolfe of Neb.-Kearney and Missouri Western's Kelsey Olion.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine. The top 30 honorees will be recognized and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 22 in Indianapolis.
Moten is a senior crime and delinquency studies major from Gary, Indiana. She was the 2017 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) DII Player of the Year, finished her Lady Hornets career ranked third in career scoring, fifth in assists and steals, and ninth in blocked shots. She has played the most games by a Lady Hornet, going 116-20 in 136 career games and is the first player in NCAA Division II history to score 1900 points with 600 rebounds, 500 assists, 200 steals and 100 blocked shots. She was named the MIAA Player and Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team All-MIAA honors and All-Defensive honors for the third straight year. She was named to the NCAA Central Region All-Tournament team each of the last three years and was the first player to earn MIAA All-Tournament team honors four straight years. Moten was just the fourth Lady Hornet to earn first-team All-American honors from both the WBCA and CoSIDA in the same year. She graduated with a 3.03 GPA and has been a member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and the Emporia State Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
Flott is an elementary education major from Olpe, Kansas. She was a two-time Most Outstanding Player at the MIAA Tournament. She finished her career with an MIAA record 106 rebounds in 12 tournament games. Her 41 rebounds in this year's tournament are second to former Lady Hornet Alli Volkens 47 in the 2011 tournament. She finished her Lady Hornet career ranked third with 944 career rebounds and is 28th in career scoring with 1,035 points. She finished her sixth season at Emporia State after missing two full years with knee injuries following her freshman season. She has played in four Sweet 16's, including 2015's Final Four trip and the Lady Hornets have played in the MIAA Tournament and NCAA Regional Championship games every year since she set foot on campus. She graduated with a 3.49 GPA and has been a member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and the Emporia State Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
The two of them have combined to go 139-29 in the six years they have been on campus with six trips to the NCAA Tournament, five MIAA Tournament Championships and an appearance in the 2015 NCAA Division II Final Four.
Lady Hornet point guard Cassondra Boston was a top 30 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year in 2010 while volleyball and basketball player Brittany Miller was the MIAA's nominee the next year. Prior to 2006 the honor was awarded by state rather than conference and did not differentiate between the three divisions. Emporia State had four Kansas NCAA State Woman of the Year honorees from 1999-2003.
