BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Gustavus women's basketball head coach Laurie Kelly (13th season) was named the MIAC Coach of the Year and four Gusties earned All-MIAC honors when the 2024-25 MIAC Women's Basketball Awards were announced on Wednesday, March 5.

In addition to Kelly's award, Kylie Baranick (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn.), Syd Hauger (5th, Springfield, Minn.), Rachel Kawiecki (Sr., Richfield, Minn.), and Emma Kniefel (5th, Medford, Minn.) were all awarded All-Conference honors. Baranick, Kawiecki, and Kniefel were also selected to the All-Playoff Team. 

This is Kelly's first honor as Coach of the Year in her 13 seasons in the MIAC. She was named a finalist for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) National Coach of the Year Award in each of the last two seasons. This year, Kelly directed the Gusties to their best season in program history, posting a regular season record of 24-1 – no Gustavus team has entered the postseason with just one loss. Kelly's Gusties became the third program in conference history to win the MIAC Playoff Championship for four consecutive seasons, also claimed her third consecutive regular season title. The Gusties were ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation in the D3hoops.com and WBCA national polls, the second-highest ranking in program history after earning a spot at No. 4 last season. 

With Kelly at the helm of the program, the Gusties have gone 252-84 overall and 183-57 in conference play. Kelly boasts a 0.750 winning percentage, and became the all-time winningest coach in Gustavus women's basketball history this season, passing Mickey Haller's (2000-12) 226 wins in her season opener against UW-La Crosse. In the last four years combined, the Gusties have lost just seven games against conference opponents and have collected four consecutive seasons of 22 wins or more. 

Baranick collected her third consecutive conference honor, after earning a spot on the All-MIAC team in both 2023 and 2024. She was also a MIAC All-First Year selection in 2021-22. The senior guard averaged 8.7 points per game and shot 42.3 percent from the field against conference opponents, playing and starting in all 18 MIAC contests. Baranick finished tied for sixth in MIAC three-point shooting, averaging 1.8 made per game against conference opponents, while shooting 43.2 percent (32-for-74) from beyond the arc. Her 3.5 assists per game ranked second in the MIAC this season, while her 69 total assists were first. She also posted the best assist/turnover ratio in the league at 3.5 – 1.5 above that of Concordia's Taylor Safranski in second – and tied for seventh with 1.8 steals per game in the MIAC. 

Following Honorable Mention All-America honors the year before, Hauger collected her second MIAC All-Conference honor in her final season. Hauger was second on the Gustavus roster in scoring, averaging 9.3 points per game against MIAC opponents while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor. She ranked on the conference leaderboard in nearly every statistical category, posting averages of 3.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. She posted the third-most steals in a single MIAC game this season (five at St. Olaf on Feb. 12), and was the best Gustie free-throw shooter among starters with a clip of .902 (37-for-41) in conference competitions, which would rank second in the MIAC if she met the qualifying mark of 60 attempted in the season. 

Kawiecki collected her third All-MIAC award alongside Baranick, sharing the second-best scoring mark in conference play with Hauger at 9.3 points per game. The Richfield native was one of the MIAC's most accurate shooters with a mark of 52.4 percent against conference opponents, tied for fifth in the league. She was in the top-25 of rebounding (3.9 rpg), assists (1.7 apg), blocks (0.6 bpg), and steals (1.3 spg), and earned MIAC Defensive Player of the Week honors earlier this season. 

Kniefel's final season was the best of her career, averaging 15.3 points while shooting 53.3 percent against conference opponents as the MIAC's most productive and efficient player. Starting and playing in all of the Gusties' games, Kniefel was a consistent offensive force all season, ranking second in the MIAC regular season in scoring behind only Macalester's Peyton Starks, who attempted 44 more shots than Kniefel (but made only 11 more). She averaged just over 0.5 points per minute in MIAC games, with an average of less than 30 minutes of playing time in the regular season. She shot 40 percent from three-point range and 77.8 percent from the line, hauling in an average of 4.3 rebounds per game, alongside 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per contest. She led the league and the nation for much of the season in assist turnover ratio, and finished with a mark of 1.8 in the statistical category against MIAC competitors. She scored more than 20 points against conference opponents four times this season and more than 15 nine times. The Medford native was twice named to the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week, and earned a pair of MIAC Offensive Player of the Week selections as well.

Kniefel claimed the program's record for most games played in a Gustie uniform on Feb. 15, playing in her 114th against Saint Benedict, while her 21 points against Carleton on Feb. 19 moved her into sole possession of seventh on the Gustavus scoring list, passing now Assistant Coach Angie Peterson Potts '04 HOF '19 with 1,380 in her career. Following her playoff performance, she is now tied with Linn Erickson Ahrendt '87 HOF '02 for sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,399 points.

Baranick and Kawiecki are the 10th and 11th players in program history to earn three All-MIAC awards, while Kniefel is the 20th player in the conference and just the second in program history to be named All-Conference four times in her career, joining Mikayla Miller '18. 

Kniefel is the first player in MIAC history to be selected to the All-Playoff Team three times, earning the award in every year since its inception. In the Gusties' two playoff competitions, Kniefel shot 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) for an average of 17.5 points per game. She shot 11-for-13 from the free throw line and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. She added eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals to lead the Gusties to their fourth consecutive MIAC Playoff Championship, all four of which were achieved with her on the roster. 

Kawiecki and Baranick both collected their second All-Playoff honors, with Kawicki averaging 6.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the postseason, including a 10-point-10-rebound double-double against Bethel in the title game. She also collected four assists, three steals, and a block. Baranick, meanwhile, directed the offense with 4.0 assists per game, hauling in 5.0 rebounds and 6.0 points as well. She also made seven of her eight free throws in Saturday's championship. 

Macalester's Starks was named the MIAC Offensive Player of the Year, while Bethel's Elly Schmitz earned the Defensive Player of the Year honor. Saint Mary's Brianna Nusbaum was selected as the Rookie of the Year. 

The Gusties (26-1, 17-1 MIAC) host a four-team regional, the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III Tournament, this Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, at Gus Young Court. Gustavus faces Wisconsin-Lutheran at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the other first round match-up featuring Wartburg (Iowa) and UW-Stevens Point at 5 p.m.

Friday's winners play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Saint Peter for the chance to advance to the Sweet 16.