Rio Grande senior standout Kaylee Darnell was named an NAIA Women's Basketball Second Team All-America selection on Monday. She finished her career as the school's all-time leading scorer.

Posted: Mar 31, 2025

Rio's Darnell earns All-America accloade

Rio Grande/NAIA Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – University of Rio Grande senior standout Kaylee Darnell was among those honored with Monday's announcement of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) 2024-25 NAIA Women's Basketball All-America Teams along with the 2025 NAIA Player of the Year and the 2025 NAIA Coach of the Year awards.
Darnell, who hails from Wheelersburg, Ohio, was among the 12 players named to the All-America Second Team.
Darnell helped the RedStorm to a 26-6 record, as well as a fourth straight River States Conference Tournament championship and a fifth consecutive trip to the NAIA National Tournament.
She averaged a team-best 22.9 points per game - a mark that ranked third nationally - while also averaging 3.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.
Darnell shot just under 49 percent overall (271-for-557), was 41-for-126 from three-point range (32.5%) and connected on 149 of her 194 free throw attempts (76.8%).
She also surpassed the 2,000-point mark for her career during the season and eventually became Rio's all-time leader scorer during Rio's RSC Tournament semifinal round win over Oakland City University.
Darnell, who netted a career-high 36 points in a win over Indiana University East on Jan. 15, finished her career with 2,324 points and started all 132 games in which she appeared.
The NAIA Women's Basketball All-America Committee made the selections, which consisted of a 12-player first and second team, as well as a third team which featured 19 players.
Macy Sievers of Dordt (Iowa) was named the NAIA Player of the Year after helping the Defenders to become not only repeat NAIA Champions, but also the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Tournament and Regular Season Champions.
The junior was named the GPAC Player of the Year and was selected first-team All-Conference. She was also named to the NAIA All-Tournament First Team, as well as the NAIA Tournament MVP.
Sievers' season stat line increased by the numbers as she posted 15.6 points per game, 44.5 field goal percentage, 39.3 three-point percentage, 84.1 free throw percentage, and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Chris Nelson of Bethel (Tenn.) was named the NAIA Coach of the Year after turning things around for the Wildcats in just one year. After going 13-16 overall and 0-12 in the Mid-South Conference in 2023-24, his team finished the 2024-25 campaign with an overall record of 27-8 and 5-7 in the MSC.
Nelson directed his team to its first Mid-South Conference Tournament title and an eventual semifinal round appearance in the NAIA Tournament.
A complete listing of the All-America teams can be found at www.naia.org.