Big South Announces 2021-22 Women's Basketball Preseason Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point senior guard Skyler Curran (Clemmons, N.C.) has been voted the 2021-22 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this morning. Curran is the league’s first repeat preseason honoree since HPU’s Emma Bockrath from 2017-19.
Curran was the 2020-21 Big South Player of the Year and concluded the season as the league leader in points scored with 514 while ranking second in points per game at 17.7. She helped the Panthers win the Big South regular-season title, as well as High Point’s first-ever Big South Tournament championship and berth to the NCAA Division I Tournament. She was tops in the Big South with 93 three-point field goals, which ranked third in the nation, while her 3.21 three-pointers per game was seventh-best in the country. Curran also ranked sixth in the Big South with 7.2 rebounds, made a league-high 41.0 percent from three-point range (93-of-227), was seventh in overall field goal shooting (43.3 percent), made 84.0 percent of her free throws, and tied for the top spot with 6.3 defensive rebounds per game. Curran averaged 17.2 points in Big South games last season and was a 43.8 percent three-point shooter against league foes. She enters 2021-22 as the Big South’s active-leading career scorer with 1,227 points, and received nine first-place votes and 108 points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2021-22 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team, School, Cl., Pos.
Skyler Curran, High Point, Sr., G
Kyla McMakin, Longwood, Jr., G
Akila Smith, Longwood, Sr., F
Nadiria Evans, UNC Asheville, Gr., G
Shy Tuelle, Campbell, Sr., G
Second-Team, School, Cl., Pos.
Jenson Edwards, High Point, R-Jr., G
Chanin Scott, North Carolina A&T, Gr., G
Taya Bolden, Campbell, R-Sr., F
Nylah Young, Hampton, Jr., F
Alasia Smith, Gardner-Webb, Soph., F
McMakin is a two-time First-Team All-Conference honoree after two seasons in Farmville, and was the league’s leading scorer in 2020-21 with 17.9 points -- which increased to 18.1 in Big South contests. She was second in free throw percentage (87.0), made 50 three-pointers, and contributed 1.5 steals on defense.
Akila Smith is the reigning Big South Defensive Player of the Year after averaging league-bests of 10.2 rebounds and 3.4 blocked shots in 2020-21. She was also the only Big South player to average a double-double, as she ranked fourth in the conference with 15.8 points per game. Smith was third nationally in blocks per game and finished the year with 88 total rejections -- including a Big South single-game record 11 vs. Winthrop.
Evans earned First-Team All-Big South honors last year and is a preseason First-Team selection for the second-straight year. In 2020-21, she was the Big South’s third-leading scorer with 17.2 points per game. She had two 34-point outbursts last season -- the most scored by a Big South player in 2020-21, and also led the conference with 126 made free throws.
Tuelle was a First-Team All-Conference pick last season and led the Camels with 262 points and 47 three-pointers. She averaged 11.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a team-best 1.6 steals per game -- ranking among the Big South leaders in each category. Tuelle also earned a spot on last year’s Big South All-Tournament Team as part of Campbell’s run to the championship game.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features the 2021 Big South Tournament MVP (Edwards), the 2020-21 Big South Freshman of the Year (Alasia Smith), two Second-Team All-Conference performers from a season ago (Bolden and Young), and an All-MEAC First-Team honoree (Scott).