Big South Announces 2023-24 Women's Basketball Preseason Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point guard
Lauren Bevis (High Point, N.C.) has been voted the 2023-24 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this morning. Bevis is the first player from High Point to receive the conference’s top preseason honor since
Skyler Curran in 2021-22.
Bevis starred at Gardner-Webb last season and turned in a First-Team All-Conference campaign as part of the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ run to the Big South regular-season and tournament championships. The graduate transfer ranked second in the conference last year with 15.7 points overall, and upped her average to 17.7 in Big South contests. Bevis was the Big South’s top three-point shooter in 2022-23 at 40.9 percent as well as 97 made threes, and added a 41.5 overall field goal clip and 85.6 percentage from the charity stripe (77-of-90). She brings career totals of 1,389 points, 259 three-pointers and an 85.4 free throw percentage to the Panthers this season. Bevis received seven first-place votes and 79 points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2023-24 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Lauren Bevis, High Point, Gr., G
Ashlyn Traylor-Walker, Radford, So., G
Bryanna Brady, Presbyterian College, 6th, C
McKinley Brooks-Sumpter, UNC Asheville, R-Sr., G
Adriana Shipp-Davis, Longwood, R-Sr., G
Second-Team
Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, Longwood, Gr., G
Nakyah Terrell, High Point, Jr., G
Trinity Johnson, USC Upstate, Gr., G
Tilda Sjökvist, Presbyterian College, So., G
Jada Ryce, Winthrop, Jr., G
Traylor-Walker was last year’s Big South Freshman of the Year after ranking ninth the league with a team-high 13.1 points. She scored in double figures 22 times -- including four performances with 20-plus points, and tallied four double-doubles. Traylor-Walker was also the first freshman in Radford history with 400 points and 100 assists in a season.
Brady was a Second-Team All-Big South honoree in 2022-23, as she ranked sixth in the conference with 13.4 points, while averaging 6.2 rebounds to rank ninth. Her 56.6 field goal percentage was the second-highest in the Big South, and she was one of four players to average a blocked shot per game. Brady finished the year with 74 offensive rebounds as well as 171 made field goals.
Brooks-Sumpter collected Honorable Mention All-Conference honors a season ago after averaging 13.1 points -- good for eighth in the league. She added 6.6 boards to rank seventh among the Big South leaders, and was also in the top 10 in field goal percentage (40.1), free throw percentage (78.7) and defensive rebounds per game (5.0).
Shipp-Davis received Second-Team All-Big South distinction last year in which she averaged team highs of 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds. She ranked fourth in the Big South in overall scoring, while her average of 16.1 points in league action was third-highest. The 2020-21 Big South All-Freshman Team member averaged 18.6 points in Longwood’s eight conference wins last year.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features three of the top 10 returning scorers in LeRoy (13.4), Ryce (10.7) and Terrell (10.4), another All-Freshman Team honoree (Sjökvist), and a two-time All-Big South selection (Johnson).