Michelle Grohs is glad she earned an All-Big Sky first-team nod. She just wishes her Idaho State teammate Jenna Brown also received enough votes from the conference's coaches to join her there.

Brown herself is ecstatic about her second-team selection. She just wishes the league had recognized Grohs as its defensive player of the year.

But don't get them wrong. That's the extent to which Idaho State's two seniors will complain about the Big Sky's annual honor roll, which it released Tuesday. Brown and Grohs earned the first all-league accolades of their respective careers, etching their names on the Big Sky landscape alongside other Bengals standouts like Natalie Doma and Andrea Lightfoot.

Montana guard Mandy Morales won her second Most Valuable Player award while headlining four Grizzlies on the elite list. Portland State and Montana State each had three players recognized.

Idaho State coach Seton Sobolewski made an earnest pitch on Tuesday's coaches conference call for them to also include junior post Oana Iacovita, but he was happy enough for the two Bengals who made it.

"You look at some of the people that are nominated, and there are some really talented players out there," Sobolewski said. "For Michelle to get first, and for Jenna to get second, that's a great accomplishment, considering the pool of people they're in."

Grohs was one of just two posts, along with Portland State's Kelsey Kahle, on the guard-heavy first team. Morales, her Montana teammate Sonya Rogers, Portland State's Claire Faucher and Montana State's Erica Perry reflected this year's dominance of guards by capturing first-team spots.

Grohs' numbers compare favorably to her peers'. She averages 14.8 points per Big Sky game, good for sixth in the conference, and has strung together more consecutive double-figure scoring games (13) than anyone else in the Big Sky.

With a league-high 1.63 blocks and 8.0 rebounds per game during conference play, Grohs also stood a chance to win the Defensive Player of the Year award, which went to Kahle. But she was content with landing on the first team.

"It's cool to get that honor," Grohs said. "There's a lot of good players that are on there, so it's a nice honor."

Brown said the same about her second-team recognition. Brown has played 39.2 minutes per game during league play, far more than any of her peers. She averages 14.8 points and 4.3 assists per game and is one of the best rebounding guards in the Big Sky (4.8 per game).

Brown's play improved dramatically as the season progressed, and she eventually became the team's unspoken go-to player. During a road sweep of Sacramento State and Northern Arizona two weeks ago that clinched a spot in the Big Sky tournament for Idaho State, Brown scored 14 points in the second half to stave off a Hornets comeback and then drained the winning layup in the final minute to sink the Lumberjacks. "I'm happy with the second team," Brown said. "To be honest, I didn't have any expectations, so that's an honor to me. Honestly, I'm not disappointed whatsoever. To go from nothing to second team is awesome."

Iacovita made a late push for league recognition by scoring 30 points in the Feb. 26 win at Sacramento State. She bumped her league scoring average to 14.2 points per game by the end of the regular season.

Seeing as Iacovita was one of just five players to hit the 30-point mark this season, Sobolewski sees no reason why she shouldn't become the next Bengal to climb the all-Big Sky charts next year.

"It's up to Oana," Sobolewski said. "Oana has the potential to be first-team all-conference if she wants to be."