Women’s basketball: Madison Hovren is rewriting record books at Army

By the time Madison Hovren leaves the United States Military Academy, she will have pieced together one of the greatest women’s basketball careers ever by a Cadet.

Quietly this season, Hovren has been rewriting record books at West Point as she’s having the best statistical season of her career as a member of the Black Knights.

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On Feb. 16 against rival Navy, Hovren grabbed the 1,000th rebound of her career, becoming just the third Army player to ever do so. Already with 1,500 points in the bag, Hovren is just the second Army player to ever tally up that many points and at least 1,000 rebounds in a career, along with Kate Macfarlane, who accomplished the feat from 2001 through 2004.

✅ Milestone achieved. #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/ShAX8eUz9k

— Army Women's Basketball (@ArmyWP_WBB) February 16, 2019

With two games remaining in the regular season — and potentially more in the post-season, should Army perform well in the Patriot League tournament — Hovren is fourth all-time in scoring for the Black Knights with 1,661 points, and second all-time in rebounding with 1,047 boards. In rebounding, she trails first-place Macfarlane by 96. She’s also third all-time in free throws made (447), fifth in field goals made (606) and fourth in rebounds per-game (8.7).

She also has 53 — and counting — career double-doubles, which is first all-time for the Black Knights.

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Hovren averages 12.9 rebounds per-game, good enough for fifth overall in all of Division I women’s college basketball. Her rebounding totals are surprising and incredible, considering she stands at just 5-foot-11, but her wingspan, toughness and positioning prowess puts her in the right place at the right time to clean the glass. Hovren also leads the Patriot League in scoring, averaging 18.8 points per-game, which is among the top 50 scoring averages in the nation.

Hovren with two of her 10 first quarter points. She is 5-of-5 from the floor and has four rebounds.

WATCH: https://t.co/pfKKRS3d0n#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/lbMHEYSQRr

— Army Women's Basketball (@ArmyWP_WBB) February 21, 2019

A native of Spokane, Washington, Hovren is accustomed to breaking records and being atop the stat sheet. At Central Valley High School, she became the Greater Spokane League’s all-time leading scorer, notching 1,355 career points.

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It’s a long shot, but the math says it’s possible for Hovren to break Macfarlane’s career rebounding record at West Point. Army has two regular season games left, then potentially four Patriot League tournament games, and if the Black Knights win that, then at least one NCAA tournament game.

If Hovren can average 14 rebounds over those seven games — just one more than her average — she would pass Macfarlane by two boards.

Great nose for the ball from Hovren as she lays it in off a free throw miss!#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/gX0dSYOK5J

— Army Women's Basketball (@ArmyWP_WBB) February 28, 2019

Hovren has had at least 14 boards in 12 games this season. She’s scored 20 points or more in 11 games. She’s also sixth in the country in double-doubles, tallying 20 of them this season.

Blasting through the Patriot League tournament is easier said than done. Army is just 6-10 in conference play this season, and while the Black Knights recently had a three-game winning streak, they haven’t beaten American, Bucknell or Lehigh — the three top teams in the standings.

But with Army's team defense and rebounding, the passing skills of Jess Lewis — who averages five assists per-game — and the all-around talents of Hovren, they'll have a chance.