« DI Women’s Basketball 2012-13

Chelsea Poppens

School
Iowa State
Position
Forward
Major
Kinesiology
PPG
13.4
RPG
9.7
APG
1.8

Classroom

Poppens holds a 3.26 grade point average while majoring in kinesiology. She was an academic All-Big 12 honoree and ISU Scholar-Athlete in 2012. She has been a member of the Big 12’s Commissioner’s Honor Roll as well.

Character

Poppens has been lauded by her coaches as one of the hardest workers they’ve coached:“She is a walking, breathing example of what can happen in your life if you do things really hard.” - Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly. Opposing coaches rave about how hard she plays, as shown in their quotes:“She’s a blue-collar player, the kind we all love. She works the entire possession, every possession.” - former Texas coach Gail Goestenkors. “She’s my favorite player in the league. She plays the way it ought to be played. She plays the game with respect, she competes all the time, plays extremely hard.” Poppens was not highly recruited coming out of high school but through her hard work and dedication has turned herself into one of the nation’s top players.

Community

Poppens has taken part in a number of community service activities during her time at Iowa State. One of these, Friends of Jaclyn, has seen the Cyclone women’s basketball team adopt Elise Lambert, a young Iowa girl suffering from brain cancer. Lambert and her family have become part of the team. Poppens has also volunteered with the St. Jude’s Walk, ChildServe and the Dance Marathon fashion show. She has also visited Blank Children’s Hospital with the team during her time at Iowa State as well as attended a local elementary school to promote staying active.

Competition

In 2012, Poppens was one of just three players to be unanimously selected to the All-Big 12 first team en route to also earning honorable mention All-America honors from The Associated Press and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. She averaged 14.2 points and 10.6 rebounds, making her the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double. She earned three Big 12 Player of the Week honors and was named the MVP of the Cyclone Challenge. She was also named to the all-tournament team at the Nugget Classic. Poppens, who entered the season as a career 8.7 ppg scorer, upped her average by over five points per game as a junior. Poppens ranked among the top-10 in the league in scoring (7th-14.2), rebounding (1st-10.6), field goal percentage (5th-49.8), offensive rebounding (1st-4.4) and defensive rebounding (3rd-6.2). She was second in the conference with 14 double-doubles, including a league-best eight in conference action. Poppens was 13th nationally in rebounding, recording 16 double-digit rebound games, including seven games with 15 or more rebounds. Poppens finished the season as one of just five players in a BCS conference to rank among the top-40 nationally in rebounds and field goal percentage. Of those five players, only Poppens ranked among the top-15 in rebounding.