Radford senior guard Khiana Johnson was named to the first-team All-Big South women’s basketball squad, the league announced Monday. RU senior center Sydney Nunley was voted to the second team, and Radford redshirt senior guard Jen Falconer was honored by being named to the conference’s All-Academic team.
High Point guard Camryn Brown and Campbell head coach Ronny Fisher have been voted the 2019-20 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches, it was announced Monday afternoon by the conference office. The panel voted Longwood guard Kyla McMakin Freshman of the Year and Hampton’s Ashley Bates as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Brown was also voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s Sports Information Directors.
Brown (Copley, Ohio) is the first High Point player to be voted Player of the Year since Emma Bockrath in 2016-17 and the fourth overall. She concluded the regular-season second in the Big South in scoring (17.0) and assists (5.2), while ranking first overall with a 39.0 three-point percentage, 83 threes made, 2.9 three-pointers per game and a 2.3 assist-turnover ratio. Brown also ranked among the league leaders in field goal percentage (fourth – 42.7), and free throw shooting (sixth – 75.9). She set the Big South single-game scoring record this season with 44 points against Winthrop on Feb. 1 and tied the league’s single-game three-point record with 10 made against the Eagles.
Brown paced the Big South with 11 20-point games and had a double-double of 12 points and 10 assists vs. N.C. Central during the nonconference season. She tallied nine games with at least seven assists, drained at least four treys in a game 10 times, and averaged 22.0 points over her final eight contests. In the 20-game Big South season, Brown averaged 17.9 points, handed out 5.6 assists and made a league-high 55 three-pointers (2.8 per game).
In the Player of the Year voting, Brown received five first-place votes and 135 total points from the panel, ahead of teammate Skyler Curran (111 points) and Radford’s Khiana Johnson (two first-place votes and 104 points). Meanwhile, Brown is the first player since 2008-09 and fifth in Big South history to be voted both Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Named a CoSIDA Third-Team Academic All-American, she holds a 4.00 GPA while working toward her MBA.
Fisher earns his second Coach of the Year honor in four seasons and third overall after leading the Camels to the outright Big South regular-season championship with a 16-4 record among 21 overall victories. Campbell, which clinched the outright crown with two games remaining in the schedule, leads the conference in overall scoring defense at just 52.3 points allowed — including just 50.4 points allowed to Big South members — while pacing the Big South with a +8.8 overall scoring margin, and a 35.9 field goal defense. Campbell did not permit any opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field this season, was one of 11 programs nationally to hold a Division I opponent to 31 points or less in a game (Hampton), and held an opponent to 40 points or less in a game six times this season.
Fisher received eight first-place votes and 26 total points to become the just the fourth coach in Big South history with three Coach of the Year awards. High Point’s Chelsea Banbury was second in the voting with 15 points (two first-place votes), followed by Radford’s Mike McGuire (11 points).
McMakin (Virginia Beach) is the first Lancer to receive one of the Big South’s major women’s basketball awards since Longwood became a league member in 2012-13. She leads all scorers with 18.6 points per game — the highest in the Big South since 2012-13, and her league-leading 539 points are the third-most scored by a freshman in league annals. A seven-time Freshman of the Week honoree, McMakin totaled 10 20-point efforts (second-most in the league), was the lone Big South player with two 30-point outputs — including a career-high 36 vs. Presbyterian on Feb. 8, and tallied three double-doubles. In 20 Big South games, McMakin finished as the scoring leader with 19.5 points and was third with a 79.2 free throw percentage. McMakin received seven first-place votes and 43 points, just ahead of Hampton’s Nylah Young (three first-place votes and 40 points) and teammate Anne-Hamilton LeRoy (24 points).
Bates (Hopkins, Minn.) is the first back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year honoree since 2013 and third overall. Just the third player in Big South history to record 100 steals in consecutive seasons, Bates owns a league-high 100, 26 more than the next player, and ranks eighth nationally with 3.4 per game. She has led the conference in steals throughout the year, posted 27 multi-steal games and had seven games with at least five thefts, including a seven vs. Winthrop in the Big South opener on Dec. 28.
Bates collected 19 points and four first-place votes in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, just ahead of Campbell’s Hayley Barber (17 points and three first-place votes). Joining Brown on the All-Conference First-Team are Curran, Johnson, McMakin and Hampton’s Laren VanArsdale.
The entire 2019-20 All-Conference team is as follows:
2019-20 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE
First-Team All-Conference
Camryn Brown, G, Sr., High Point
Skyler Curran, G, Soph., High Point
Khiana Johnson, G, Sr., Radford
Kyla McMakin, G, Fr., Longwood
Laren VanArsdale, G, Soph., Hampton
Second-Team All-Conference
Carley Plentovich, G, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Sydney Nunley, C, R-Sr., Radford
Hayley Barber, G, Sr., Campbell
Ashley Bates, G, Sr., Hampton
Dayna Rouse, F., Sr., Longwood
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Trinity Johnson, G, Soph., Presbyterian
Nadiria Evans, G, Jr., UNC Asheville
Brianna Lewis, G, Sr., USC Upstate
Luana Serranho, G, Soph., Campbell
Brooke Jordan-Brown, C, Sr., UNC Asheville
All-Freshman Team
Kyla McMakin, G, Fr., Longwood
Nylah Young, F, Fr., Hampton
Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, G, Fr., Longwood
Tionna Carter, F, Fr., Presbyterian
Jenson Edwards, G, R-Fr., High Point
All-Academic Team
Lauren McNamara-Clement, Jr., F, Campbell
Carmella Walker, G, Jr., Charleston Southern
Carley Plentovich, G, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Laren VanArsdale, G, Soph., Hampton
Camryn Brown, G, Sr., High Point
Mallory Odell, F, Jr., Longwood
Kacie Hall, G, Sr., Presbyterian
Jen Falconer, G, R-Sr., Radford
Brooke Jordan-Brown, C, Sr., UNC Asheville
Riley Popplewell, C, Sr., USC Upstate
Miquela Santoro, G, Sr., Winthrop
Player of the Year
Camryn Brown, G, Sr., High Point
Freshman of the Year
Kyla McMakin, G, Fr., Longwood
Defensive Player of the Year
Ashley Bates, G, Sr., Hampton
Coach of the Year
Ronny Fisher, Campbell
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Camryn Brown, G, Sr., High Point
–Big South Conference