Big South Announces 2018-19 Women's Basketball Preseason Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) -- High Point senior guard Emma Bockrath (Dayton, Ohio) has been voted the 2018-19 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today at the conference’s Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon at the Renaissance Suites Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Bockrath is the first back-to-back preseason award winner since Winthrop’s Dequesha McClanahan from 2012-14.
Bockrath was the 2016-17 Big South Player of the Year, is a two-time All-Big South First-Team selection, and was voted to the league’s All-Freshman Team in 2015-16. During the 2017-18 conference season, she ranked in the league’s Top 10 in points (5th - 14.1), rebounds (7th – 6.6), field goal percentage (6th – 43.2), and steals (1st – 2.7), and was 14th in assists. Bockrath had 20 double-digit scoring outputs last season, including seven 20-point efforts. She also shot 83.3 percent from the charity stripe in 18 Big South contests. Bockrath surpassed 1,000 career points as a junior last season, and finished the year with overall averages of 13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.42 steals per game, along with 75 steals and 73 assists. She was sixth overall in scoring and rebounding in 2017-18 -- one of two Big South players at or above that benchmark in both categories. Bockrath also paced the conference with 2.4 steals per game. A member of the Big South’s 1,000-point, 500-rebound club, Bockrath needs 45 steals to become the 16th player with 1,000 points, 500 boards and 200 steals in a career. She received seven first-place votes and 97 points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2018-19 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Emma Bockrath, High Point, Sr., G (Dayton, Ohio)
Destinee Walker, Radford, Sr., G/F (Florence, S.C.)
Jessica Wall, UNC Asheville, Sr., G (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Kacie Hall, Presbyterian College, Jr., (South Webster, Ohio)
K’lynn Willis, Hampton, Sr., G (Detroit, Mich.)
Second-Team
Weknyne Dumorne, Charleston Southern, Sr., F (Miami, Fla.)
Shea Morgan, High Point, Sr., F (Kettering, Ohio)
Ky’Asia Stanford, Gardner-Webb, Sr., G (Bear, Del.)
Lydia Rivers, Radford, R-Jr., F (Kinston, N.C.)
Rachel Burns, Charleston Southern, Sr., G (Gainesville, Va.)
Walker earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors last season as she ranked second on her squad and 12th in the Big South with 11.0 points per game. She scored in double-figures in 12 Big South games and 19 overall, and averaged 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals.
Wall broke the Asheville program record for made three-pointers with 90 last season, as well as the school single-game record (9). She led the Big South with 2.7 three-pointers per game and a 38.3 shooting clip from beyond the arc. Wall averaged 10.6 points, 2.42 assists and 1.12 steals last year.
Hall collected Honorable Mention All-Big South accolades as she ranked 11th in the conference with 11.1 points per game -- which increased to 12.7 in conference action (eighth-best). She also ranked inside the league’s Top 10 in steals (1.3), 3-pointers made (62) and 3-point percentage (32.8).
Willis was Hampton’s starting point guard most of last season, and turned in 9.1 points per game, 91 assists (2.94 average) and a team-high 84 steals (2.71 per game). She earned Third-Team All-MEAC honors as a freshman in 2015-16.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features three of the top six returning rebounders from 2017-18 (Rivers, Dumorne, and Morgan), a Top 10 field goal shooter (Stanford) and the league’s third-best steals leader (Burns).