EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced on Tuesday that four University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball student-athletes were selected with All-OVC honors. USI Head Coach Rick Stein was named the OVC Coach of the Year.
 
The OVC's postseason accolades were voted upon by the league's head coaches and communication directors.
 
For the fourth time overall in his career and first time in the Ohio Valley Conference, Head Coach Rick Stein was named Coach of the Year. Stein guided the Screaming Eagles to a 22-6 overall record and a 17-1 conference record to lead USI to its first-ever OVC regular season championship, improving its OVC wins total by 11 games from the 2022-23 campaign. This season, USI won the OVC regular season title by six games in the standings and earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming OVC Championship Tournament. USI will be making its first-ever appearance in the OVC Tournament. Southern Indiana is only the fifth women's basketball team in OVC history to win at least 17 games in the conference season.
 
Stein, who is in his 25^th season as USI Women's Basketball head coach, led USI to its 750^th win in program history in late February. Stein has had a helping hand in over 600 of those wins as an assistant coach and head coach. Plus, Stein helped coach the Screaming Eagles to their 14^th season with 20 or more wins and its 35^th overall winning season.
 
Junior guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) and senior forward Meredith Raley (Haubstadt, Indiana) were named All-OVC First Team. Senior forward Madi Webb (Bedford, Indiana) was selected All-OVC Second Team, while sophomore guard Ali Saunders (Depauw, Indiana) received All-Newcomer Team honors. All four receive their first postseason OVC accolades.
 
Shafford was eighth in the OVC in overall scoring and first on the team with 14.5 points per game. The junior was top 10 in league play with 14.8 points per contest. Shafford also paced the team in rebounding (7.5) and steals (1.5), which was good for fifth and 11^th in the OVC, respectively. The guard ranked top five in league play with eight rebounds per outing during the OVC season. Shafford also ranked among the top of the conference in overall and three-point shooting.
 
Shafford dropped a career-high 26 points twice during the conference slate, including in the regular season finale against Southeast Missouri State University. On January 9, Shafford was named OVC co-Player of the Week after averaging a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds in the previous week. Shafford was a 2023-24 Preseason All-OVC selection alongside Raley.
 
Raley was second on USI this season with 12 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, placing her top 15 and top 10 in the OVC, respectively. Raley was third on the team with a 47.8 field goal percentage. In conference play, Raley recorded 12.8 points on nearly 49 percent shooting with 6.8 boards per contest.
 
During the conference season, Raley had three 20-point outings, matching a season-high 22 points in early February against Eastern Illinois University. Raley also posted consecutive double-doubles in USI's wins against Tennessee Tech University and at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in January. On January 20 against Morehead State, Raley tallied a game-high 18 points to reach a career milestone of 1,000 points, becoming the 21^st USI Women's Basketball player to reach 1,000 career points.
 
Webb was stellar in her first season in a USI uniform, placing third on the team with 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest. The senior was top 20 in the conference in scoring and rebounding. Webb also finished second on the squad with a 52.3 field goal percentage and 12 blocks. Plus, the forward ranked among the top of the conference with a 54.3 field goal percentage in league play.
 
In January, Webb dropped back-to-back double-doubles, including a career night against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on January 18. Webb poured in career bests with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 33 minutes played. The SIUE transfer tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds for USI the week before in her return to SIUE.
 
Saunders also made a strong presence in her first season with USI after spending her freshman season at Valparaiso University. Saunders was a shooting threat for Southern Indiana, shooting nearly 46 percent overall and 43 percent from long range, averaging almost eight points per contest. The sophomore led USI with 96 assists and 3.4 assists per game. Overall, Saunders was top 10 in the OVC in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7). In conference-only action, the guard was second in the OVC with 4.4 assists per game and topped the OVC with a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
During the OVC season, Saunders earned OVC Newcomer of the Week honors twice and also won OVC Player of the Week laurels on February 20. The guard put up 20 points and 18 points in consecutive road games while also knocking down 10 triples and dishing out 14 assists. Saunders has been a starter in the last 15 games, averaging more than 10 points since entering the lineup.
 
Southern Indiana will take the court at Ford Center in downtown Evansville, Indiana, on Friday at 1 p.m. in the semifinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Championship. USI will find out its opponents following Thursday's quarterfinals.
 
All games from the OVC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament can be seen live with a subscription to ESPN+. 95.7 FM The Spin and 97.7 FM WREF will have radio coverage of USI contests. Tickets for the OVC Tournament are on sale through the USI Ticket Office online. For more information, call the USI Ticket Office at 812-465-1189.