Case Western Reserve University senior guard/ forward Hillary Hellmann (Lakeside Park, Ky. / Notre Dame Academy) was selected as one of the ten women's finalists for the prestigious Jostens Trophy, which recognizes outstanding student-athletes in Division III basketball for excellence in the classroom, on the court, and in their respective communities.
Hillary, along with the other 10 finalists now move on to the next round of voting where a diverse panel of 30-plus individuals will decide the winner. Ballots from the national selection committee are due by March 7 with the winning schools expected to be notified by March 8. The awards presentation is scheduled for Thursday, March 14 in conjunction with the NCAA Division III women's basketball semifinals and championship in Salem, Va., on March 15-16.
Hellmann, who was named to the All-UAA First Team earlier in the week, became the first Spartan player since Evy Iacono in 2012-13 to lead the UAA in scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game during the year, the 66th-highest mark among all Division III players. She started all 25 games for CWRU, shooting 42.2% overall and 31.4% on three-point attempts. She was also third among UAA players with 8.5 rebounds per game, and finished the year with 10 double-doubles, including five in league play. Her 1.0 blocks per game was the seventh-best mark in the UAA during the campaign. Hellmann was named the UAA Athlete of the Week twice during the season, including after she scored a season-high 30 points and collected 13 rebounds against Eastern on December 20th.
Hellmann played in 99 games over her career, including 90 in a starting role, and finished her time at CWRU second in program history with 1,593 points, while her 220 made three-pointers are a program record. She is a three-time All-UAA selection, and led all Division III players in three-point percentage during her sophomore campaign.
The Spartans finished the 2018-19 campaign with a 15-10 overall record, the team's best record since the 2012-13 season. It was the sixth time in program history that CWRU has won 15 or more games in a year, while the team finished 7-7 in conference play and fourth in the league standings, the team's best finish and record in UAA play since the 2012-13 campaign.
In the classroom, Hellmann has a cumulative 3.714 grade point average as a Mechanical Engineering major. She has been named to the Dean's High Honors list five semesters, while claiming a place on the Dean's Honors list an additional two times. Hellmann has also received UAA Winter All-Academic recognition all three years of her career.
Hellmann has participated in numerous community service projects at CWRU as well. She has helped to install solar panels to provide families living in remote villages outside of Gaborone, Botswana with electricity. More locally, she has been a captain for Spartans for Special Olympics, and has volunteered with Young Athletes, a branch of the Special Olympics. Hillary has also tutored students in math at the Mary Bethane School in Cleveland, and volunteered with Relay for Life.
The Jostens Trophy is a joint creation of Jostens, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minn., and the Rotary Club of Salem, Va. The purpose of the award is to honor the true Division III student-athlete - the athlete that shows excellence in the classroom, on the playing floor and in the community. In addition to the Trophy, the Wooldridge Scholarship, a $1,000 donation, will be presented in the names of the winners to their institutions. The scholarship was named after Dan Wooldridge, a Salem Rotarian and retired Commissioner of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, as a way of honoring him for his long-time dedication to Division III athletics.
Full list of 2019 Women's Jostens Trophy finalists:
Lauren Bondi | Smith College
Emma Dorshimer | Gettysburg College
Hillary Hellmann | Case Western Reserve University
Maya Howard | DePauw University
Briana Moore | Bridgewater College
Hannah Neild | Gallaudet University
Victoria Pena | University of Texas at Dallas
Hannah Spaulding | University of St. Thomas
Madison Temple | Thomas More University
Jess Vormelker | Thiel College