Big South Announces 2018-19 Women's Basketball Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) -- Hampton junior guard Ashley Bates and Radford head coach Mike McGuire have been voted the 2018-19 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 Hampton guard Laren VanArsdale Freshman of the Year and Bates as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. USC Upstate junior center Riley Popplewell was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s Sports Information Directors.
Bates (Hopkins, Minn.) becomes the first player in Big South history to be voted Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. She is tops in the Big South with 17.7 points per game as well as 4.4 steals per game -- good for third in the nation -- and also ranks second in free throws made (117) and eighth in field goal percentage (46.5 percent). Bates scored a career-high 34 points in the regular-season finale against Winthrop on March 9, tied for the league-lead with nine games with 20+ points, and scored in double figures in every game in 2018-19. Defensively, her 122 steals are a Big South single-season record and third-most in NCAA Division I this year. She had nine games with at least six thefts -- including four games with seven, and grabbed at least seven rebounds in a game seven times. Bates also recorded more steals than turnovers in 18 contests in 2018-19. In Big South games, Bates led the league with 18.2 markers per contest -- the only player above 17.0, and averaged 4.5 steals against conference foes.
In the Player of the Year voting, Bates received three first-place votes and 136 total points from the panel, just ahead of Radford’s Destinee Walker (two first-place votes and 135 points) and High Point’s Emma Bockrath (four first-place votes and 134 points). For Defensive Player of the Year, Bates received six first-place nods and 22 points, ahead of Radford’s Lydia Rivers (two first-place votes and 16 points) and Bockrath (nine points).
McGuire earns his third Coach of the Year honor in five seasons after leading the Highlanders to a school-record 17 Big South wins and third consecutive 20-win season at 23-6. He directed his squad to non-conference wins over Virginia, VCU, Temple and East Tennessee State, and enters this week’s Big South Championship tournament with the conference’s longest win streak of the season at 15 games. Radford leads the league in seven statistical categories -- scoring defense (55.2), scoring margin (+9.3), field goal defense (34.0 percent), 3FG defense (25.1 percent), rebounds (44.2), rebound margin (+5.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.0). The Highlanders finished the 18-game Big South season tops in scoring defense (52.3), scoring margin (+15.1), field goal defense (32.2) and three-point defense (22.8), grabbed a league-best 45.2 rebounds, and finished first with a +8.0 scoring margin.
McGuire received seven first-place votes and 25 total points to become the just the third coach in Big South history with three Coach of the Year awards. High Point’s DeUnna Hendrix was second in the voting with 17 points (two first-place votes).
VanArsdale (Powder Springs, Ga.) leads all Big South freshmen in scoring at 15.8 (fourth overall), and has made a league-best 130 free throws. Her 78.3 free throw clip is seventh in the conference, and she also ranks eighth in steals (2.0), 10th in assists (3.0) and is the only freshman player among the Top 15 in field goal shooting. VanArsdale scored a career-high 33 points vs. High Point on March 2, and had 29 in Hampton’s win over CAA regular-season champion James Madison on Nov. 20. She tied for the league-lead with her nine 20-point games. Against Big South competition, VanArsdale averaged 15.7 points (4th), made 82.1 percent from the charity stripe (4th), handed out 3.2 assists (T-9th), and tallied 2.3 steals (6th). VanArsdale received eight first-place votes and 44 total points, ahead of Campbell’s Lauren Carter (two first-place votes and 30 points).
Popplewell (Union Mills, Ind.) ranks first in the conference in offensive rebounds (4.0), is third in field goal percentage (51.8) and sixth with 7.9 rebounds per game. She also ranks among the league’s Top 10 in steals (1.9) and blocks (1.0). A CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, the senior carries a 4.0 GPA as an Education major.
Joining Bates on the All-Conference First-Team are Walker, Bockrath, Rivers and Gardner-Webb’s Carley Plentovich. The entire 2018-19 All-Conference team is as follows:
2018-19 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE
First-Team All-Conference
Ashley Bates, G, Jr., Hampton
Destinee Walker, G/F, Sr., Radford
Emma Bockrath, G, Sr., High Point
Carley Plentovich, G, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Lydia Rivers, F, R-Jr., Radford
Second-Team All-Conference
Laren VanArsdale, G, Fr., Hampton
Senora Dengokl, G, R-Jr., UNC Asheville
Sydney Nunley, C, R-Jr., Radford
Dayna Rouse, F, Jr., Longwood
Khiana Johnson, G, Jr., Radford
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Jessica Wall, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Kacie Hall, G, Jr., Presbyterian College
Kaylah Lupoe, F, Sr., Hampton
Hayley Barber, G, Jr., Campbell
Shea Morgan, F, Sr., High Point
All-Freshman Team
Laren VanArsdale, G, Fr., Hampton
Lauren Carter, G, Fr., Campbell
Kem Nwabudu, F, Fr., Winthrop
Shy Tuelle, G, Fr., Campbell
Jhessyka Williams, G, Fr., Gardner-Webb
All-Academic Team
Hayley Barber, G, Jr., Campbell
Anna Webster, G, Jr., Charleston Southern
Carley Plentovich, G, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Mahaley Holit, G, Soph., Hampton
Lindsey Edwards, G, Sr., High Point
Stephanie Guihon, G, Soph., Longwood
Kacie Hall, G, Jr., Presbyterian
Jen Falconer, G, R-Jr., Radford
Brooke Jordan-Brown, C, Jr., UNC Asheville
Riley Popplewell, C, Jr., USC Upstate
Miquela Santoro, G, Jr., Winthrop
Player of the Year
Ashley Bates, G, Jr., Hampton
Freshman of the Year
Laren VanArsdale, G, Fr., Hampton
Defensive Player of the Year
Ashley Bates, G, Jr., Hampton
Coach of the Year
Mike McGuire, Radford
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Riley Popplewell, C, Jr., USC Upstate