WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University's Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) had been a thorn in the side of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents for three years heading into the 2021-22 season.
 
This year was no different for Paulson, who once again torched conference opponents with her lethal one-two, inside-outside combination.
 
But Paulson couldn't take sole credit for giving the rest of the conference nightmares this season — she had a partner in crime … Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.).
  
And Tuesday afternoon, the Cardinals' dynamic duo claimed plenty of hardware when the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference handed out its post-season awards. Paulson was named to the All-MIAC First-Team and Goettelman was named to the MIAC All-First-Year Team, while also earning honorable-mention All-MIAC accolades.
 
Paulson — an honorable-mention selection after both her freshman and sophomore seasons (the MIAC did not award post-season honors in 2020-21 due to COVID-19) — enjoyed her best season as a Cardinal in 2021-22. She led the team — and the entire conference — in scoring, averaging 18.6 ppg in 22 conference contests, while also hauling in a team-leading 149 rebounds (6.8 rpg) — which also left her in the Top 5 in the MIAC. Paulson, who shot 48.6 percent from the field (140-for-363) with 63 3-pointers in conference play, also added 49 assists, 22 steals and 12 blocked shots.
 
Overall, Paulson — who started all 25 games for the 8-18 Cardinals — averaged 18.2 ppg and 6.8 rpg, with 70 3-pointers, 49 assists, 23 steals and 13 blocks. She scored 10 or more points in 24 of the team's 26 games, including 10 games with 20+ points, and recorded four double-doubles. Paulson scored a career-high 32 points against Gustavus on Feb. 2, and, with her sixth point of that contest, she became the 12th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point mark.
 
Goettelman, meanwhile, certainly turned a few heads around the MIAC during her freshman campaign.
 
Starting all 22 MIAC contests and playing more than 26 minutes a game, Goettelman finished second on the team to Paulson with an 8.7 ppg scoring average. She shot 34.6 percent from the field (62-for-79) with 19 3-pointers and added 90 rebounds (4.1 rpg), 32 assists, 14 steals and three blocked shots.
 
Goettelman was one of three Cardinals to start all 26 games, averaging 8.7 ppg and 4.1 rpg, with 21 3-pointers, 40 assists, and 17 steals. She scored a career-high 22 points against St. Scholastica on Jan. 29, and missed her first collegiate double-double by one point with a nine-point, 10-rebound effort against Augsburg on Jan. 10.
 
Regular-season champion Augsburg landed three of the four MIAC individual honors, as sophomore Anja Smith was selected the MIAC Player of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year, while Ted Riverso was tabbed the MIAC Coach of the Year. Bethel's Hayden Glander picked up the league's MIAC Rookie of the Year honor.
 
As part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC also announced the annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for women's basketball, which included Saint Mary's Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.). Members of the All-MIAC Sportsmanship team are selected by their coaches and teammates as individuals who demonstrate ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition.