Though the HoriZone Roundtable staff voted Cleveland State’s Destiny Leo as its preseason Player of the Year, the Horizon League also selects several other individual awards at the end of each season outside of its all-conference teams. Here are our picks to win those honors:
| Award | Name | School |
| Coach of the Year | Maria Marchesano | Purdue Fort Wayne |
| Newcomer of the Year | Lexi Bugajski | Wright State |
| Freshman of the Year | Sarah Baker | Youngstown State |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Bailey Butler | Green Bay |
| Sixth Player of the Year | Mya Moore | Cleveland State |
The old joke about Coach of the Year honors is that they’re essentially “we expected you to suck and you didn’t” awards, but the Horizon League has typically bucked that stereotype with uber-successful coaches like Chris Kielsmeier, Kevin Borseth, John Barnes, Katrina Merriweather and Austin Parkinson accounting for last eight HL award winners. Even Notre Dame legend Muffet McGraw grabbed one during the Irish’s brief stint in the conference. In fact, the winner of this award is quite literally always affiliated with a team that finished in the top two of the standings, so with that in mind, the safe pick would be Kielsmeier or Kayla Karius, the leaders of the teams that most project in those places. However, “safe” is lazy, and it’s high time that Maria Marchesano gets her flowers for the rebuilding job she’s done at Purdue Fort Wayne. And hey, who’s saying that the Mastodons won’t finish in the top two?
There are a bevy of potential high-impact transfers in the Horizon League, to the point where declaring a preseason Newcomer of the Year is essentially chucking darts. Purdue Fort Wayne’s Lauren Ross and Sydney Freeman should immediately be two of the better players in the conference, as should others like Miah Monahan (Green Bay) and Nevaeh Foster (IU Indianapolis). But for the right blend of impact and a team expected to contend, it’s hard to beat Wright State’s Lexi Bugajski, a former high-end prospect from Wisconsin who played at Appalachian State last year. Bugajski fills a long-time need for the Raiders as someone who can crash and bang in the middle of the floor, though she’s also a true three-level player who can plug in just about anywhere and make a significant impact. If WSU again finds itself near the top of the standings, Bugajski will probably be a major reason why.
Winning Freshman of the Year is more about opportunity than anything else, and given that most of the expected contenders are jam-packed with veterans, it’s probably wise to look elsewhere. “Elsewhere” just might be Youngstown State, as the Penguins return a handful of known quantities like Malia Magestro and Haley Thierry, though one of the biggest stories of the conference’s offseason was the re-recruiting job that Melissa Jackson did on a massive class of rookies. Of that group, look for Sarah Baker to make a notable contribution. Baker is a frontcourt player out of Florence, KY who (stop me if you’ve heard this part before with respect to YSU) played AAU ball with the WV Thunder and has received rave reviews for a highly-developed repertoire of post moves, as well as her mobility and rebounding ability. At 6-2, she’s a few inches shy of Emily Saunders territory, but still has more than enough size to dominate in the HL paint.
Given that she’s already been on the Horizon League’s all-defensive team twice, it’s not exactly a stretch to think that Bailey Butler might finally be the singular Defensive Player of the Year in 2024-25. Though new head coach Karius will certainly make her own mark on Green Bay’s program, the Phoenix’s bread and butter has always been their ability to slow games down and lock opponents up in the half court. Nobody is more important to that success than Butler, who sets the tone at the top of the floor, thanks in large part to her 2.2 steals per game, second in the conference last year. If she can navigate her two head-to-head meetings with Cleveland State’s Colbi Maples, a fellow point guard who is not only the reigning Player of the Year but also joined Butler on the all-defensive team, Butler will likely be the award’s frontrunner.
Cleveland State was a lot more top-heavy than Kielsmeier would have preferred last season, but that’s likely to change quickly with the return of Destiny Leo from injury, as well as a highly-regarded class of newcomers. One key member of that group is Seattle transfer Mya Moore, who should, alongside Jordana Reisma, give the Vikings the conference’s best 1-2 punch in the middle of the floor. Moore, who is originally from Milwaukee, led the Redhawks in most major statistical categories last season, including scoring (12.7), rebounding (7.6), steals (1.6) and blocks (1.4) and though the Vikings’ stellar backcourt draws most of the attention, their ability to win the war of attrition down low with an airtight rotation is just as important to their success.
