Westgate Honored as Preseason First-Team All-Crossroads League

2022-2023 Crossroads League Preseason All-League Team | TU Honors Page

JACKSON, Mich. – The Crossroads League released its 2022-2023 Women's Basketball Preseason All-League Team on Wednesday, and for the second season in a row Trojan forward, Taylor Westgate, received Preseason First-Team All-Crossroads League honors.

Westgate's most-recent recognition comes in the wake of a 2021-2022 campaign in which she led the league with 11.8 rebounds-per-game, which marked the highest season-average for a Taylor player in 25 years. Prior to Westgate's sophomore season, the last Trojan women's basketball player to average more than 11.0 rebounds-per-game was Natalie Steele, who averaged 14.1 rebounds-per-game in 1996-1997.

Meanwhile, Westgate also averaged the league's 11th-best mark of 13.7 points-per-game, posting double-digit point performances in 19 of TU's 28 games played, five of which included 20-plus point efforts.

The native of Marion, Indiana, posted 15 double-doubles throughout her sophomore season, the most for a TU player since Kendall Bradbury compiled 18 in the 2018-2019 season. Even more, throughout the month of January and into early February, Westgate posted seven-consecutive double-doubles, a stretch of play that included a pair of career-highs: a 21-rebound effort in TU's 100-85 win over Bethel on January 5, and a 27-point performance in Taylor's win over Mount Vernon Nazarene on February 1.

Westgate also shined on the defensive end of the game throughout last season, ranking among the league's top defenders with 1.6 steals-per-game and 0.8 blocks-per-game.

For these reasons and more, Westgate was a recipient of Second-Team All-Crossroads League and Crossroads League All-Defensive honors in 2021-2022.

Westgate will look to do much of the same throughout her junior season, as she leads the Trojans into a 2022-2023 campaign set to begin on Thursday, October 27, when Taylor travels to take on Madonna at 5:30 pm.