By: Mark Reinhiller
Allen Named Player of the Year, Talley Coach of the Year
The North Central Community College Conference champion College of DuPage Chaparrals dominated its postseason awards for 2022-23 women’s basketball.
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Leading the way on the court was N4C Player of the Year Katlyn Allen. The Aurora sophomore averaged nearly a double-double for the season with 11.1 points and 9.6 rebounds in 27 games. She led the team in double-doubles with 12 and also earned All-Region 4 and All-Region 4 Tourney honors.Joining Allen on the honors squad are teammates Mykah Berkompas and Sierra Gibson.
“The expectation was to do better than what had happened in the past and to move it forward,” said head coach Abigail Talley, who also was named N4C Coach of the Year. “At the beginning, I’m not sure if I was 100 percent there in terms of reaching the success that we ultimately experienced. We had such a good group of women who had the talent and the want to put the work in. The ability was there, and we worked together and that core group had the leadership to believe in one another. They proved it, and the rest followed. Kaitlyn, Mykah and Sierra laid the foundation and it was easy for the rest of the team to follow.”
Berkompas (Aurora) averaged 14.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 30 games. She has fired 36.1 percent from the field and was second on the team in 3-pointers (55). She finished her career with 15.4 points a game. She also was named All-Region 4 and All-Region 4 tourney.
Gibson (River Grove) was second on team in scoring (13.7 points) in 28 games. She led the Chaps in shooting percentage (42.1 percent) and averaged 5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.9 steals. She also was named All-Region 4 and was the All-Region 4 Tournament MVP.
Talley, whose team won the title for the first time in 15 seasons and earned the program’s most victories in nine seasons, was named Coach of the Year in her first season with COD.
"It isn't just a head coach who is deserving of this honor,” Talley said. "We have a great support staff, an athletics director in Ryan Kaiser who is there every step of the way and (assistant coach) Jordan Heberg, who is invaluable.”
The Chaps (15-16 overall) went a combined 7-1 against conference foes Milwaukee Area Technical College, Joliet Junior College, Madison College and Harper College.