Gardner-Webb’s Ashley Hawkins and Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery have been voted the 2024-25 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches.
The panel voted USC Upstate’s Cassie Gallagher the Freshman of the Year, Longwood’s Kiki McIntyre the Defensive Player of the Year, while Winthrop’s Amourie Porter was selected as the Newcomer of the Year. Gardner-Webb’s Elze Motekaitytewas voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s Sports Information Directors.
Radford University’s Joi Williams was the school’s lone representative, being named to the first team. Teammate Cate Carlson received honorable mention.
Radford’s Kirby Brown was also named to the Big South All-Academic Team. Adelyn Traylor-Walker was honored on the All-Freshman Team.
Hawkins is the second Runnin’ Bulldog in three seasons to receive Big South Player of the Year honors and the third overall. She finished the regular-season as the Big South leader in points (19.0) and assists (4.8) to help lead Gardner-Webb to a six-win turnaround from the 2023-24 season. A four-time Big South Player of the Week honoree in 2024-25, Hawkins finished the campaign with a league-high 14 games with 20+ points — including a Big South single-game record 47 against Queens in December.
The Big South Preseason Player of the Year, Hawkins was tops with 19.8 points during the league season, handed out 5.2 assists vs. Big South foes, and made 90.2 percent from the charity stripe. Hawkins received 115 points and four first-place votes, just ahead of Charleston Southern’s Catherine Alben (114 points and four first-place votes) and Radford’s Joi Williams (94 points and one first-place vote).
Lang-Montgomery becomes the first Longwood coach to claim the Big South Coach of the Year award. Coming off back-to-back 9-21 seasons and projected to finish seventh in this year’s preseason poll, Lang-Montgomery led the Lancers to an 11-5 record in Big South games and second-place in the standings, as well as 20-10 overall — the program’s first 20-win season since 2021-22. Lang-Montgomery received four first-place votes and 20 points in the voting, ahead of High Point’s Chelsea Banbury (four first-place votes, 17 points).
Gallagher is the second Spartan in four seasons to be voted Freshman of the Year. Named Big South Freshman of the Week on six occasions (Nov. 18, Dec. 2, Jan. 6, Jan. 13, Jan. 27 and Feb. 17), she appeared in all 29 games with 28 starts. Gallager averaged 9.8 points and 3.1 rebounds over an average of 28.7 minutes per game, and corraled 90 total rebounds (23 offensive, 67 defensive) plus 31 assists, 13 blocks, and 11 steals on the season. She received seven first-place votes and 39 points for the top freshman award, ahead of Radford’s Adelyn Traylor-Walker (28 points) and High Point’s Dom Nesland (26 points, one first-place vote).
McIntyre becomes the third Lancer in four years to win Defensive Player of the Year honors. The NCAA leader this season in total steals (121) and steals per game (4.03), McIntyre’s steal total is second-most in a single-season in Big South history, and just four away from the overall record. She is the only player in the nation averaging 4.0 steals per game.
Porter is the second Big South Women’s Basketball Newcomer of the Year, as the award was added in 2023-24 to recognize the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. She played in all 29 games with 14 starts and ranked fourth in the league with a team-best 13.2 scoring average. Porter also ranks ninth in the Big South with 6.0 rebounds and was tops with her 89.3 free throw percentage. In league games, Porter averaged 14.1 points, 6.6 boards and made 90.8 percent from the charity stripe. She scored in double-figures in 20 games, including a career-high 25 points with 12 rebounds vs. Radford (Jan. 4). Porter made a career-high 12 free throws at Queens in November, and handed out a career-high seven assists vs. UNC Asheville in January. The Big South Player of the Week following the second week of the season, Porter received three first-place votes and 16 points, ahead of Presbyterian’s Kishyah Anderson (12 points, two first-place votes) and HPU’s Lawrence (11 points, three first-place votes).
Motekaityte holds a 4.0 in the MBA program and had a 3.9 GPA earning her Bachelor’s in Management. She averaged 9.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists during the regular season while recording five double-doubles.
The entire 2024-25 All-Conference team is as follows:
First-Team All-Conference
Ashley Hawkins, Gardner-Webb
Catherine Alben, Charleston Southern
Joi Williams, Radford
Nevaeh Zavala, High Point
Amourie Porter, Winthrop
Second-Team All-Conference
Kishyah Anderson, Presbyterian
Kiki McIntyre, Longwood
Amor Harris, Longwood
Jaleesa Lawrence, High Point
Nakyah Terrell, High Point
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Paige Kindseth, Presbyterian
Cate Carlson, Radford
Mariah Wilson, Longwood
Elle Blatchford, Gardner-Webb
Cassie Gallagher, USC Upstate
All-Freshman Team
Cassie Gallagher, USC Upstate
Adelyn Traylor-Walker, Radford
Dom Nesland, High Point
Kendall Scott, Gardner-Webb
Gwen Jenkins, USC Upstate
All-Academic Team
Alba Garcia, Charleston Southern
Elze Motekaityte, Gardner-Webb
Jaleesa Lawrence, High Point
Nalani Simmons, Longwood
Paige Kindseth, Presbyterian
Kirby Brown, Radford
Dakota McCaughan, UNC Asheville
Jeni Levine, USC Upstate
Nuria Cunill, Winthrop
Big South Conference
