Big South Announces 2025 Women's Golf Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (
www.BigSouthSports.com) -- High Point’s
Anna Howerton was voted the 2025 Big South Women’s Golfer of the Year, while teammate
Anaïs Arafi was voted Freshman of the Year by the league’s head coaches and announced this past Tuesday afternoon as part of the Women’s Golf Championship Awards Ceremony. UNC Asheville’s
Caroline Patterson was selected the Newcomer of the Year, and HPU head coach
Lyndsey Hunnell was voted Coach of the Year by the panel. Radford sophomore
Macy Johnson was voted Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Howerton (Winston-Salem, N.C.) entered the Big South Championship as the conference leader in stroke average at 72.65. She has the third-most Top 10 finishes in the league this season with six, and won her Match Play Semifinal contest, 8&7. A three-time Big South Golfer of the Week honoree in 2024-25, Howerton won the Low Country Intercollegiate with a 3-over par 219, she was runner-up at the Pirate Collegiate Classic, and won all three of her matches at the Oyster Schuck Match Play. Howerton was one of four players to shoot the lowest round in the Big South this season with a 66, and her best 54-hole score of the year was a 6-under par 210 at the Lady Paladin Invitational where she finished fourth. Ranked 203 nationally, Howerton is High Point’s third consecutive Big South Golfer of the Year recipient, and the program’s third overall winner.
Arafi (Birsfelden, Switzerland) is the third-ever High Point golfer to receive Freshman of the Year honors. She entered the postseason ranked ninth on the conference’s stroke average leaderboard at 75.50, and tied for ninth in the conference championship with a 230 for her fourth Top 10 finish of the year. Arafi earned Big South Freshman of the Week honors five times in 2024-25, and her top finish was a tie for fifth at the Terrapin Invitational with a 1-over par 217. She posted two rounds in the 60s (both 69) as well.
Hunnell receives her second Big South Coach of the Year honor in three seasons. She led the Panthers to six victories in 2024-25 -- the Pirate Collegiate Classic, UNCG Collegiate, Oyster Shuck Match Play, Rivertowne Invitational, Battle of the Triad Match Play and the Low Country Intercollegiate, and finished in the Top 10 in all 12 events, including n additional four Top 4 standings. High Point was the Big South’s top ranked team nationally at No. 89, and four Panthers ranked in the Big South’s Top 9 in stroke average prior to the conference championship. Hunnell coached
Julia McLaughlin to the Big South Championship Medalist honors in addition to four total All-Conference selections.
Patterson is the second Big South Women’s Golf Newcomer of the Year, which was added in 2024 to recognize the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. In her first season with the Bulldogs, Patterson (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) finished fifth in the Big South Championship at 226 to earn a spot on the All-Championship Team. She ranked second in the conference with a 73.06 stroke average, has eight Top 10 finishes, and was the Medalist at The Velvet Classic with a 1-over 217. A three-time Big South Golfer of the Week honoree in 2024-25, Patterson is ranked No. 304 in the nation.
Johnson (Salem, Va.) carries a 4.00 GPA studying Economics. She ranked fifth in the league in scoring average (74.60) prior to the conference championship, was a two-time Medalist this season (Pirate Collegiate Classic and Kingsmill Intercollegiate), and helped the Highlanders win the Big South Championship for the first time in program history. Johnson is the first Radford golfer to be voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year since 2014 and the fourth time overall.
Also announced this past Tuesday afternoon were the Big South Women’s Golf All-Conference and All-Freshman teams, which are listed below. Both squads are based on performance during the regular-season and conference championship.
2025 Big South Conference Women’s Golf Award Winners
All-Conference Team
First-Team
Anna Howerton, High Point
Caroline Patterson, UNC Asheville
Neza Siftar, Gardner-Webb
Macy Johnson, Radford
Katie Stephens, Charleston Southern
Second-Team
Ella Perna, High Point
Julia McLaughlin, High Point
Odette Font Garcia, Charleston Southern
Abigail Sheldon, Longwood
Anaïs Arafi, High Point
Honorable Mention
Beryl Giletti, UNC Asheville
Eugenie Varet, Charleston Southern
Morgan Guepet, UNC Asheville
Rylie Kosney, USC Upstate
Constanca Mendonca, Winthrop
All-Freshman Team
Anaïs Arafi, High Point
Abigail Sheldon, Longwood
Morgan Guepet, UNC Asheville
Eva Bulger, Gardner-Webb
Ambre Matlega, High Point
All-Academic Team
Odette Font Garcia, Charleston Southern
Neza Siftar, Gardner-Webb
Julia McLaughlin, High Point
Hannah Wang, Longwood
Taylor Reaves, Presbyterian
Macy Johnson, Radford
Claudia Salvador, UNC Asheville
Grace Garner, USC Upstate
Emilie Marie Marceliussen-Dahl, Winthrop
Golfer of the Year
Anna Howerton, High Point
Freshman of the Year
Anaïs Arafi, High Point
Newcomer of the Year
Caroline Patterson, UNC Asheville
Coach of the Year
Lyndsey Hunnell, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Macy Johnson, Radford
All-Championship Team (Top 5 finishers plus ties)
Julia McLaughlin, High Point (Medalist)
Katie Stephens, Charleston Southern
Odette Font Garcia, Charleston Southern
Grace Addison, Radford
Caroline Patterson, UNC Asheville