CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Buena Vista University senior guard Margo Muhlbauer (Manilla, Iowa/IKM) has been named the 2009-10 IIAC Women’s Basketball Most Valuable Player and Coe head coach Randi Peterson has been named the 2009-10 IIAC Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year.

A 5-8 guard, Muhlbauer was a scoring threat from the minute she first donned a BVU uniform as a freshman. She led the IIAC in scoring in each of her four years, amassing 2,058 points — only the fourth Iowa Conference player to surpass 2,000 points and the second Buena Vista player to reach the mark behind Jeannie Demers (1983-87), Division III’s career scoring leader with 3,171 points. During the 2009-10 season, averaged a league-high 22.0 points per game while shooting 47.9 percent (218-of-455) from the field. She also led the league in free-throw shooting (87.7 percent; 136-of-155), ranked third in steals (2.48 steals/game) and 10th in rebounding (5.5 rebounds/game). Muhlbauer topped the 20-point mark on 20 occasions this season, including a career-high 39 points at Central Jan. 27. She led the Beavers in scoring 19 times.

In 16 Conference games, Muhlbauer averaged 21.4 points per game to lead the league, shooting 49.8 percent (128-of-257) from the field. She also averaged 5.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game during Conference play. Muhlbauer also led the league in free-throw percentage (86.2 percent; 75-of-87) and ranked sixth in field-goal percentage, third in steals, eighth in rebounds, and 10th in blocked shots.

Peterson led Coe to its first Iowa Conference women’s basketball championship, tying Simpson for the title with a 13-3 league mark. The Kohawks closed their season at 19-8 after an IIAC Tournament Championship loss to Simpson. Coe led the Conference in scoring defense (59.4 points/game), rebounding margin (+5.1), assists (17.22 assists/game), rebounding (40.5 rebounds/game), rebounding defense (35.4 rebounds/game), field goal percentage defense (37.8 percent), 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.2 percent), and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.94). This marks the first time Peterson has been named IIAC Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year.

The IIAC also announced today the 2009-10 Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team. The 15-member Team includes seven repeat All-Conference performers including Muhlbauer, who becomes just the second player to be named a First Team All-Conference selection (and/or MVP since 1998) four times, joining Demers. Conference tournament champion Simpson had three All-Conference performers, while Buena Vista, Coe, Loras, and Wartburg had two each. The teams were rounded out by one player each from Central, Cornell, Dubuque, and Luther.

The complete 2009-10 IIAC Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team can be found here.