(Editor’s note: Carroll College media release)
HELENA — Carroll College first team All-American Hannah Dean will once again have her basketball jersey displayed in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame’s Ring of Honor during the next year.
“It is a huge honor for Hannah and caps off an amazing career,” Saints coach Rachelle Sayers said. “To have your jersey hung there once is pretty special, to have it hung there twice is amazing. She is such an amazing young lady. I was blessed to have coached her for four years.”
The Ring of Honor is an exhibit in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee. Over 100 jerseys from all amateur levels of basketball — high school up to NCAA D-I — will hang in the Hall.
“Not only does the Ring of Honor provide a colorful backdrop to the Hall of Fame’s many archives, but it is also our way of recognizing some young basketball players for their achievements in the sport,” read a letter from Josh Sullivan, Director of Basketball Operations & Technology at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. “In doing so, we are fulfilling our mission to ‘honor the past, celebrate the present and promote the future’ of women’s basketball.”
Dean’s No. 24 jersey for a second consecutive year will decorate the hall.
The 6-foot-1 senior from Gardiner, Montana, led the Saints in most statistical categories this season while becoming the only first-team All-American selection in program history. She finished the season averaging 15 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and one block per game. She shot 47 percent from the field, 20 percent from the three-point line and 84 percent from the foul line. She was named a WBCA All-American honorable mention. She earned first team all-conference honors while also being named the Co-Defensive Player of the Year this past season. Her junior season, she became a second team All-American.
She helped the Saints win 26 games, the most under Sayers’ eight-year tenure and secure a second consecutive Frontier Conference postseason championship, defeating eventual national champion Montana Western, 54-50. The women’s basketball season culminated in a Second Round appearance in the NAIA Tournament, where the Saints fell by a single point to eventual national runner-up Oklahoma City.
Dean finished her career with 1,382 points, 846 rebounds, 276 assists, 164 steals and 162 blocks.
Dean remains the third player in Carroll College history to be honored by the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Torrie Cahill (2012-13) and Katie Estey (2015-16) also had their jerseys hanged.
And Dean isn’t done competing for the Saints yet . She’ll play volleyball this upcoming fall.
