Big South Announces 2024-25 Women's Basketball Preseason Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Gardner-Webb guard
Ashley Hawkins (Long Beach, Calif.) has been voted the 2024-25 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this morning. Hawkins is the second player from Gardner-Webb in three years to receive the conference’s top preseason honor.
Last year’s Big South Newcomer of the Year, Hawkins earned First-Team All-Conference honors as she was third in the league with 15.7 points per game. She also paced the circuit with 5.6 assists per game -- the lone player to average at least five dimes a contest. Hawkins, who scored a Big South Tournament First Round record 33 points vs. UNC Asheville last March, was among the conference leaders in field goal percentage and free throw shooting (third at 77.9 percent). She started all 30 games for the Runnin’ Bulldogs in 2023-24, had a league-leading nine 20-point games, and posted two point-assist double-doubles with 17 and 11 against College of Charleston (Nov. 20) and 15 and 10 vs. Longwood (Jan. 24). Hawkins received seven first-place votes and 73 points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2024-25 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Ashley Hawkins, Gardner-Webb, Sr., G
Catherine Alben, Charleston Southern, Jr., G
Nakyah Terrell, High Point, Sr., G
Jada Ryce, Winthrop, Sr., G
Adriana Shipp-Davis, Radford, Gr., G/F
Second-Team
Anaya Harris, Gardner-Webb, Soph., G
Joi Williams, Radford, Soph., G
Marissa Gasaway, Winthrop, Sr., F
Jaleesa Lawrence, High Point, Sr., G
Nevaeh Zavala, High Point, Jr., F
Alben was a Second-Team All-Big South honoree in 2023-24, and was second on the squad with 13.9 points per game. She led the Bucs with 51 steals, scored 20 points in a game seven times, and had a career-high 26 points in CSU’s road victory at Gardner-Webb on Feb. 14. Alben earned Big South All-Freshman Team honors in 2022-23.
Terrell was a Second-Team All-Conference performer in 2023-24. She started 28 of the 31 games played, averaged 8.4 points and led High Point with 4.1 rebounds per game. A Big South All-Freshman Team honoree in 2021-22, Terrell tallied 12 double-digit scoring games a season ago, including a season-high 19 against Lees-McRae on Nov. 11.
Ryce received Honorable Mention All-Big South distinction last year in which she averaged team highs of 11.1 points (12th in the conference) and 77.5 percent from the charity stripe (fifth in the league). She started all 30 contests, was fourth in the Big South with 53 steals and eighth with 71 assists. Ryce scored a season-high 22 points at High Point (Jan. 27), and tied the Big South single-game record for steals with 10 vs. Carolina University on Dec. 10.
Shipp-Davis was a prolific scorer during four seasons at Longwood in which she scored 1,050 points in 119 games with the Lancers. A 2022-23 Second-Team All-Big South selection, Shipp-Davis total 228 points, 94 rebounds, 31 assists and 23 steals during her final season in Farmville in 2023-24. She helped Longwood win the Big South Championship in 2022.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features two All-Freshman Team honorees from a year ago (Harris and Williams), and Honorable Mention All-Big South selection and the league’s top rebounder from last season (Gasaway), an All-Conference member from the Big Sky Conference (Lawrence) and a contributor for the reigning regular-season champion (Zavala).
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