Senior forward Macy McGlone was named Ohio Valley Conference player of the year, senior guard Kiyley Flowers was named the OVC defensive player of the year and senior guard NaKyel Shelton was named part of the 2024-2025 All-OVC First Team. 

McGlone was the first woman from Eastern to win the OVC player of the year award last year.

“I mean, it feels pretty good,” McGlone said. “Marqus [McGlothan] told me earlier that I’m the 10th person in OVC history to get it back-to-back, so I thought that was cool.” 

McGlone is first in the OVC with 11.55 rebounds per game and is second in the league in points with 17.72 and in blocks with 2.01 a game. 

McGlone was also named to the first team All-OVC for the third year in a row. 

“I mean, that feels good too, but I feel like the big thing is player of the year,” McGlone said. “If you get player of the year and you don’t get first team, I feel like there’s kind of an imbalance there.” 

Flowers was named the OVC defensive player of the year for the first time. She has led the OVC in steals every year since transferring to Southeast Missouri State in 2022. She is averaging 2.81 steals per game which also puts her 18th in the nation. 

“The past couple years, I didn’t get that recognition, and so I just feel like having that recognition this year with everything that we have done as a team is just like a big show of all the work,” Flowers said. “It’s a great feeling because it just feels like all the work that you put in in that aspect kind of paid off.” 

Even though Flowers earned that recognition, she was not on either All-OVC teams. 

Despite these awards, Eastern still has games left this season as they start the OVC Tournament on Thursday in Evansville, Indiana. 

On the men’s side, Shelton was named part of the 2024-2025 All-OVC First Team. 

Shelton was the only men’s basketball player at Eastern to be part of any All-OVC team this season. 

“I felt accomplished,” Shelton said. “It was a long season, and I was able to put up good stats. It was good to be acknowledged and to know my hard work paid off.” 

Shelton averaged 17 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per game throughout the season. Shelton recorded a career-high 38 points against Morehead State this season on Jan. 23. 

Throughout 29 games, Shelton recorded a total of 493 points, 134 rebounds, 57 assists, 46 steals and 23 blocks.

Men’s basketball’s play ended Saturday as the team did not make the OVC Tournament.

Zaria Flippin and Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.