Jones caps career with first team NAIA D-II all-American honors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? Iowa Wesleyan College senior Anna Jones, a senior from Cornell, Ill., has capped her Tiger career by being named an NAIA Division II first team women?s basketball all-American for the 2011-12 season.

Jones is one of 10 players named to the NAIA D-II all-American first team squad. She is the 22nd NAIA all-American in school history and the seventh under Women?s Basketball Coach Steve Williamson. She also is just the second IWC women?s basketball player in school history to receive NAIA first team all-American honors, joining former teammate Jessi Beachey after the 2009-10 season.

?Anna is very deserving of this honor,? said Williamson. ?She was definitely one of the best players in the NAIA and she?s had an unbelievable four-year career. It?s a fitting end to her career and she?ll go down as one of the best to ever put on an Iowa Wesleyan uniform.?

Jones received all-American honors for the second straight season after being named an honorable mention selection last year. This season she was named first team all-Midwest Collegiate Conference for the third straight year and ranked among the MCC leaders in almost every single major statistical category. She averaged 19.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, three assists and 3.6 steals per game, shooting 47.6 percent from the field, 81.4 percent from the foul line and 38 percent from 3-point range.

A year after ranking second nationally in assists, Jones stepped up her scoring and finished second in the MCC and eighth nationally in NAIA Division II in points per game. She also led the league in steals, ranked fourth in rebounding, fifth in field goal percentage, free throw percentage and 3-point percentage, and seventh in assists. She ranked second nationally in steals per game and also led the MCC in minutes played per game (36.6).

Jones concluded one of the most decorated careers in IWC women?s basketball history as the school?s all-time leader in assists (529) and steals (351). She also ranks fourth all-time in scoring (1,518 points) and fifth in school history in rebounds (804). Jones was a four-year letter winner as well as a three-year starter. She posted an 86-38 record in her four years with two MCC regular season and tournament titles and three trips to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.

Jones has also been a Dean?s List student every semester at Iowa Wesleyan.