2016-17 Women's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team Announced
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – UNC Asheville senior guard Chatori Major (Camp Lejeune, N.C.) has been voted the 2016-17 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 Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center in Concord, N.C. Major is the first Bulldog to be named Preseason Player of the Year since Vicki Giffin in 1996-97 and is the second overall.
Major is the reigning Big South Player of the Year and Tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 13.7 points and leading Asheville to its second-ever conference title. She earned First-Team All-Big South honors for the first time in 2015-16, as she finished the season as the league’s top three-point shooter at 37.7 percent. Major led the Bulldogs to a 16-4 Big South record with 15.3 points and a 46.3 field goal percentage in 20 league games. She posted averages of 19.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 44.0 percent from beyond the arc in the Big South Tournament to help Asheville win its first crown since 2007. Major tied for third in the conference in scoring while ranking sixth in field goal percentage (42.2) and fifth in three-pointers made (61). She started all 33 games and scored in double-figures 23 times. One of four Big South players with multiple 25+ point games last year, her scoring average in Big South games was second-highest. Defensively, she averaged at least one steal both overall and in conference, in addition to contributing 3.3 rebounds per contest. A two-time Player of the Week selection last year, Major scored a season-high 28 points in a win at Winthrop on Dec. 29, as well as 25 points in a one-point win at High Point on Jan. 23. She received six first-place votes and 90 total points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2016-17 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Chatori Major, UNC Asheville, Sr., G
Erica Williams, Winthrop, Sr., G/F
Kaylah Keys, High Point, Sr., G
Janayla White, Radford, Jr., F
Tianna Knuckles, UNC Asheville, Sr., G
Second-Team
Alyssa Mann, Charleston Southern, R-Sr., G
Taylor Petty, Presbyterian College, Soph., G
Cortney Storey, Presbyterian College, Jr., G
Aianna Kelly, Presbyterian College, Sr., G
Emma Bockrath, High Point, Soph., G
Williams is a two-time All-Big South performer, including First-Team accolades in 2014-15. She was on her way to another All-Conference season last year before an injury ended her season after 18 games. Williams averaged 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds, but raised her averages to 19.3 points and 8.8 boards when facing Big South competition
Keys has earned All-Conference honors twice in her career and was the Big South’s leading scorer a year ago with 14.9 points. She has scored in double figures in 47 of her 60 career conference tilts, and has finished among the league’s top five scorers each of the last three seasons.
White earned First-Team All-Big South accolades in 2015-16 as she was the only Big South player to average a double-double. She grabbed a league-leading 10.0 rebounds per game in addition to her 11.9 points per outing. White, who led the Big South with a 57.1 field goal percentage, notched 11 double-doubles and finished with 55 blocks.
Knuckles collected All-Conference and All-Tournament honors last season as she averaged 12.2 points and 3.4 rebounds for the Bulldogs. She was the squad’s second leading scorer and ranked in the top 10 in the Big South in three-pointers made (73), three-point shooting (32.3 percent) and scoring. She also averaged 12.0 points and 5.0 boards in the Big South Tournament.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features three Honorable Mention All-Conference honorees from a year ago (Mann, Storey, and Kelly), the 2016 Freshman of the Year (Petty) and a member of the All-Freshman Team (Bockrath).