Ferris State’s Blanchard is the Player of the Year
GLIAC — The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) revealed the postseason awards for the 2025-26 women’s basketball season on Friday.
The awards were determined by a vote of the league coaches.
Ferris State senior forward Kadyn Blanchard was named GLIAC Player of the Year. Blanchard, who led the Bulldogs to a 25-win season to date, is the first Bulldog to earn the top conference honor in 25 years.
Roosevelt junior guard Marie Outlay earned GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year recognition. Outlay ranked first in the GLIAC in blocked shots (1.5 bpg), steals (4.1 spg) and was sixth in rebounding (6.8 rpg) in 2025-26.
Northern Michigan sophomore guard/forward Sydney Whitehouse received the GLIAC Sixth Woman of the Year Award. Whitehouse averaged 9.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game off the bench for the Wildcats.
Saginaw Valley State guard/forward Kaitlyn Geurink was recognized as GLIAC Freshman of the Year. Geurink started 27 of 28 games in which she played, scoring 10.1 points per game in 29.9 minutes of play on average.
Carrie Lohr led Wayne State to the No. 2 seed in the GLIAC Tournament after being selected to place fifth in the preseason poll. This marks the second time Lohr has earned the honor in her 15-year career with the Warriors.
The First, Second and Defensive All-GLIAC Teams for the 2025-26 women’s basketball season are noted below:
First Team All-GLIAC
MacKenzie Bisballe, Grand Valley State
Kadyn Blanchard, Ferris State
McKenna Ferguson, Wayne State
Nicole Kamin, Grand Valley State
Gabi Lutchka, Wayne State
Sarah Newcomer, Northern Michigan
Paige VanStee, Grand Valley State
Jacy Weisbrod, Northern Michigan
Mia Riley, Ferris State
Taylor Thompson, Wayne State
Weisbrod closed the regular season as one of the nation’s most dangerous perimeter scorers, leading the GLIAC at 16.8 points per game. Her 103 made three-pointers rank first among all Division I and Division II players, while her 3.43 makes per game sit second nationally. She is shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc, third-best in the conference. The senior scored 20 or more points in 12 games and made at least four triples 15 times. She also connected on multiple three-pointers in 23 of 30 contests and surpassed 1,000 career points in a victory over Davenport, becoming the 29th player in program history to reach the milestone. She scored a career-high 33 points on Dec. 17 to guide NMU to an 83-77 victory over Northwood.
Newcomer, a senior from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, provides another potent scoring threat for the Wildcats and lands on the First Team after earning Second Team honors as a junior. She averaged 11.2 points per game during the regular season, second on the team. She ranks inside the GLIAC’s top five in both made three-pointers per game (2.4) and three-point percentage (38.0%), and her 73 made triples place her among the top 30 nationally. Newcomer had two games with seven made threes, including a career-high 27-point performance in a 74-46 win at Michigan Tech on Jan. 8.
Whitehouse earns Sixth Woman of the Year honors after appearing in all 30 games off the bench. She averaged 9.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.6 steals while shooting 41.3% from the floor. She ranked third on the team with 57 offensive rebounds and reached double figures 13 times, including nine of the final 12 games of the regular season. She scored a career-high 21 points against Purdue Northwest on Jan. 22 and becomes the second straight Wildcat to claim the conference’s Sixth Woman of the Year award, joining Abi Fraaza.
Second Team All-GLIAC
Cassidy Arni, Parkside
Grace Bradford, Lake Superior State
Katie Hamill, Parkside
Mya Hiram, Ferris State
Ella Mason, Michigan Tech
Lydia Meredith, Saginaw Valley State
Megan McCalla, Saginaw Valley State
Marie Outlay, Roosevelt
Ellie Toney, Davenport
Alyssa Wypych, Michigan Tech
Mason, a sophomore from Negaunee, Michigan, made 26 starts and appeared in 28 games in the regular season for the Huskies finishing with a team-leading 368 points for an average of 13.1 points per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the field (122-300), 33.1 percent from trey (55-166) and 88.5 percent from the free throw line (69-78). Mason’s 368 points ranked 12th within the league with her 55 3-pointers made, also pacing the Black & Gold and fifth-best in the GLIAC. She recorded a team-best 20 games in double-figure scoring with six games of 20 or more points in the regular season.
Wypych, a junior from Rockford, Michigan, started all 28 games through the regular season, finishing second on the team with 324 points with an average of 11.6 points per game shooting 45.3 percent from the field (110-243), 35.4 percent from beyond the arc (29-82) and 87.2 percent from the charity stripe (75-86). Wypych finished atop the team and GLIAC with a free-throw percentage of 87.2 while ranking 11th in the GLIAC with 75 free throws made. She reached double-figure scoring in 17 games with two games of 20 or more points.
All-GLIAC Defensive Team
MacKenzie Bisballe, Grand Valley State
Kadyn Blanchard, Ferris State
McKenna Ferguson, Wayne State
Nicole Kamin, Grand Valley State
Lydia Meredith, Saginaw Valley State
Marie Outlay, Roosevelt
Mia Riley, Ferris State
Taylor Thompson, Wayne State
Paige VanStee, Grand Valley State
Nevaeh Williams, Davenport
2025-26 GLIAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kadyn Blanchard, Ferris State
Ferris State University senior standout Kadyn Blanchard becomes the first FSU women’s basketball player to earn the prestigious GLIAC Player of the Year honor in 25 years and only the second in school history. Blanchard set the Bulldogs’ all-time scoring record this year and is closing in on 2,000 career points. She paced the league in scoring at 16.8 points per game this season and has netted a personal career-high 488 points with 176 rebounds, 111 assists and 67 steals in 29 games to date. Both a first-team All-GLIAC selection and GLIAC All-Defensive Team recipient, Blanchard has led the Bulldogs to the second-most wins in school history with a 25-5 mark entering the GLIAC Semifinals and FSU is in line for its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last five seasons. The sixth-year senior ranks among the school’s all-time leaders in virtually every statistical category, compiling 1,926 points, 717 rebounds, 334 assists and 194 steals to date to go with 687 made field goals, 229 made three’s and 323 made free throws in 128 collegiate games. She has reached double-figure scoring in 26 of her 29 games this season.
2025-26 GLIAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Marie Outlay, Roosevelt
Marie Outlay finished off the greatest defensive season in Roosevelt history by being named the GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year. It is the second time in three seasons at Roosevelt that Outlay has earned a conference defensive player of the year honor, having won the award as a freshman in the Lakers’ final season at the NAIA level. The junior from Sun Prairie, Wis. led the league in blocks and steals per game, ranking second nationally with 115 steals and 4.11 steals per game. The heart and soul of the Lakers team this season, Outlay was a three-time GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week this year, setting Roosevelt’s career, single-season and single-game steals record while starting all 28 games and leading the GLIAC in playing time.
2025-26 GLIAC SIXTH WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Sydney Whitehouse, Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan’s Sydney Whitehouse has been named the GLIAC Sixth Woman of the Year, the second straight season NMU has won the award following Abi Fraaza last year. Whitehouse came off the bench in all 30 games, averaging 9.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.6 steals per game. She shot 41.3% from the floor and was a constant presence on the offensive glass, finishing third on the team with 57 offensive boards. She reached double figures 13 times this season, including nine of the final 12 games to help NMU clinch homecourt for the quarterfinals. She scored a career-best 21 points against Purdue Northwest on Jan. 22.
2025-26 GLIAC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Kaitlyn Geurink, Saginaw Valley State
Saginaw Valley State freshman forward Katilyn Geurink was named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year. Geurink started in all but one of the games for the Cardinals and averaged 10.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. She shot 41.8% from the field and 29.5% from beyond the arc as she totaled 284 points, 108 rebounds, 22 assists, 16 steals, and five blocks. The Hamilton, Michigan native, broke out in the fifth game of the year with a season-high 24 points against Wingate. She surpassed 20 points again with 22 against Purdue Northwest in January and was a double-digit scorer 15 times this season. Geurink also snagged 11 rebounds against Thomas More while scoring 15 points for her only double-double of the season.
2025-26 GLIAC COACH OF THE YEAR
Carrie Lohr, Wayne State
Wayne State University 15th-year head coach Carrie Lohr has been selected as GLIAC Coach of the Year for the second time in her illustrious career at WSU (the first was in 2012-13). Lohr, who guided the Warriors to a 17-3 conference record this season, along with a 22-6 overall mark during the regular season while facing the 11th-toughest schedule nationally, reached the 250 career win plateau at WSU with the regular-season finale triumph over Saginaw Valley on Feb. 28. Wayne State was the only school to defeat Grand Valley State during the regular season, following a one-point setback in Allendale. The 2025-26 Warriors went 12-0 at home, while recording a 10-6 record away from Motown. This year’s Wayne State squad led the GLIAC in league scoring (79.8 PPG), field goal percentage (.483), three-point percentage (.384) and defensive rebounds per conference contest (29.0), while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (.378), blocked shots (3.70 PG) and assists (18.3 PG), and third in both free throw percentage (.774) and rebounding margin (+4.1). In terms of overall stats during the regular season, the Warriors were third in scoring (77.2 PPG), first in field goal percentage (.462), second in three-point percentage (.367) and assists (17.0), fourth in rebounding (38.7 RPG), blocked shots (3.6) and steals (9.8), and fifth in free throw percentage (.742). This is the sixth time WSU has had the GLIAC Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year joining Linda Makowski (1977-78 and 1979-80), Rita Jean Horkey (1980-81) and co-recipient Diane Wisnewski in 1994-95.
