By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) kicked off her collegiate career by being named the D3hoops.com West Region Rookie of the Year — and was named All-West Region each of her first three seasons as a member of the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team.
 
Make that each of her four seasons as a Cardinal.
 
For the fourth consecutive year, Blattner was back in the all-region post-season spotlight Monday, as the senior was named to the D3hoops.com All-West Region Third-Team.
 
Blattner is no stranger to the D3hoops.com All-West Region team. The senior forward was D3hoops.com West Region Rookie of the Year and Second-Team All-West Region as a freshman, while landing Third-Team All-Region honors as a sophomore and First-Team All-Region accolades as a junior a year ago.
 
Blattner was one of four players from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to earn All-Region honors. St. Thomas' Hannah Spaulding was a First-Team selection — as well as the West Region Player of the Year — while St. Thomas' Kaia Porter and Augsburg's Tamira McLemore were Second-Team selections.
 
Joining Blattner on the All-Region Third Team was Abby Olson from Bethany Lutheran, Puget Sound's Elizabeth Prewitt, Adrienne Boettiger of Wartburg, and Caltech's Elizabeth Eiden.
 
A four-time All-MIAC selection, not to mention a back-to-back member of the MIAC's All-Defensive Team, Blattner averaged a team-high 15.6 ppg and hauled in a team-leading 173 rebounds (8.7 rpg) in 20 games. She finished with 16 assists, recorded 27 steals and tallied 12 blocks. Blattner closed out her senior season leading the Cardinals in scoring in each of their last six games — and 11 times overall.
 
Despite missing the Cardinals' first six games due to injury, Blattner — who finished her playing career ranked No. 3 all-time in scoring with 1,495 points and third in career rebounds with 922 — scored 20 or more points five times this season and 25 times in her four-year collegiate career, while also leading the team with six double-doubles this season.
 
This is the 18th year that D3hoops.com has named All-Region teams. Regions that have fewer than 40 NCAA Division III teams have two teams. The Northeast, which is nearly twice that size, has four teams, while all other regions have three teams.

Players were nominated for these awards by the sports information directors at the various schools. There were 716 players nominated nationwide. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region.