ST. LOUIS – Freshman Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) of the Drake University women's basketball team has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and the Sixth Player of the Year. The MVC specialty awards come one day after Rhine garnered All-MVC honorable mention accolades along with being selected to the MVC All-Freshman Team.
 
Rhine shined in her first season as a Bulldog. Coming off the bench, she averaged 13.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while leading the conference in shooting at 63.1 percent. Her scoring and rebounding averages ranked 13^th and eighth, respectively, in the MVC.
 
Rhine recorded four double-doubles, tallied double-figure scoring in 15-of-18 conference games and scored in double digits in 20 total games while averaging just 19.6 minutes per game. Rhine was tabbed the MVC Newcomer of the Week a league-leading five times this past season.
 
Rhine is the third-consecutive Drake player to claim the Valley's Freshman of the Year honor joining her teammates Maddy Dean (2015) and Lizzy Wendell (2014). A Drake player has won the Freshman of the Year award a league-best nine times in the history of the conference. The MVC's Sixth Player of the Year award is in its second season and recognizes an impact player that has started in fewer than half of its conference games
 
Drake begins play at the 2016 MVC Tournament in Moline, Ill., on Friday, March 11 at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs play the winner of No. 7 Illinois State vs. No. 10 Evansville.