Kate Achter ranked sixth favorite by Falcons’ fans

By Press Staff Writer

sports@presspublications.com

 

The Bowling Green State University athletic department asked its fans to vote for their favorite student-athletes of the past 20 years. 

Throughout the month of September, BGSU revealed one selection at a time each weekday over a five-week stretch. Last week, BGSU highlighted fans’ No. 6 choice for the top student-athlete of the past 20 years, women’s basketball player Kate Achter (Clay).

Achter played for the Falcons from 2004-08, and she joins another former Clay athlete on the list, volleyball defensive standout Kallie Seimet, a 5-foot-8 two-time MAC Player of the Year who played from 2015-18. Seimet was ranked 20th on the fans’ list.

Achter was a driving force behind some of the most successful teams in BGSU women’s basketball history.

A four year starter, Achter was a part of a senior class in 2008 that went a combined 108-23 during their tenure at BGSU, while also going 57-7 in MAC regular season play. Their remarkable team success included a historic run to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. That 2006-07 team won 31 games, which set school and MAC records for victories in a season.

Achter was the MAC Player of the Year as a senior in 2008 and First Team All-MAC, after earning second team All-MAC the previous two seasons. She also was named to the MAC All-Tournament Team three times in her four years, including in 2005, when she earned MAC Tournament MVP honors.

Achter is the Falcons’ all-time leader in assists (688), free throws made (551), and free throws attempted (718). She also ranks fifth all-time in school history in scoring with 1,580 career points, and is the only player in program history with over 1,000 points and 600 assists.

“My time at Bowling Green was defined as much by the winning as it was by the teamwork and togetherness of our program,” Achter said. “The unwavering support of the BGSU fan base made us one of the toughest teams to compete against in the county; and they gave us the confidence to compete at our highest level every night. This would not be possible without their dedication.”

Post collegiately, Achter has carved out a strong career coaching women’s basketball. She is beginning her fifth year as the head coach at Loyola (Chicago), posting improved win totals in each season she has been there, culminating in a 15-14 record in 2019-20.

A 2004 Clay graduate who played under her father, then-coach Roger Achter, she has talked to The Press on several occasions about how she turned the Loyola program around.

Heading into Christmas break last year, the Ramblers were 8-0 and looked nothing like Achter’s first Loyola team, which finished 2-28 during the 2016-17 season.

“I was a first-year head coach, with 10 players who had no Division I experience,” recalled Achter, 33. “We returned two players, and combined we returned 78 total points from the previous year. I didn’t have any freshmen. We got three junior college transfers who didn’t come from a high-level junior college, and we honored the scholarships the previous staff had (offered). We had three junior college players we knew nothing about. We allowed one player to come back to the team that the previous staff had kicked off the team.”

Achter takes her coaching role beyond the basketball court, too.

“I have a very, very strong group of bright, young women. I have two pre-med students, I have two exercise science students, I have three MBAs, and I just had a junior tell me she is going to take the LSAT (law school admission) this summer,” Achter said while the keynote speaker at the Clay High Alumni and Friends Association’s distinguished alumni and hall of fame banquet.

 

(— includes file contributions by Press Sports Editor J. Patrick Eaken and contributing writer Mark Griffin)

 

 

 

 

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