Accolades Continue for C of O Lady Cat & Bobcat Basketball

Submitted to Branson Globe

College of the Ozarks men’s and women’s basketball teams continue to see accolades come their way following the close of the 2019-2020 season. Most recently, recognition has come from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).

Junior Lady Bobcat Abby Oliver, who hails from Strafford, Mo., added to her collection of

awards on Thursday, as she was named as an NAIA Third Team All-American. Oliver has already been named this season as an All-American by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) in the NAIA division, NCCAA Second Team All American, NCCAA First Team All-Region and A.I.I. First Team All-Conference. Lady Cat sophomore Annie Noah of Gainesville, Mo. received recognition as an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American. Noah also collected First Team honors this season from the A.I.I. Conference. This is the first time Oliver and Noah have been named to the NAIA All-American list.

Bobcat senior Brandt Cochran was named

as a first-time NAIA Honorable Mention All-American recipient on March 19. To date, the Lawrenceville, Ill. native has received accolades that include NCCAA Third Team All-American, NCCAA First Team All-Region, A.I.I. First Team All-Conference, and NAIA/A.I.I. Champion of Character.

Ashley Forrest, Aleksei Smith, Jordan

Wersinger and Trey Gibson, have been named 2019-2020 NCCAA Scholar Athletes. This award requires a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher on a scale of 4.0, one season of competition at the current institution, and junior or senior academic status. Forrest has

also been the recipient of the this season’s NAIA and A.I.I. Champion of Character Awards.

“We are blessed with a great group of student-athletes who are hard-workers both on and off the court,” said Bobcats Athletic Director and Head Coach Steve Shepherd. “We are

incredibly proud of our Scholar Athletes. It requires a great deal of dedication to achieve this goal while balancing games, practices, travel, classroom time, homework and their 15-hours per week at an on-campus work assignment.”

Top: Abby Oliver

Middle: Annie Noah

Bottom: Brandt Cochran