Peach Belt Announces Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team

AIKEN, S.C. – The Peach Belt Conference held its annual women’s basketball awards banquet on Friday night in Aiken, S.C., and released the 2011 All-Conference team.  Lander’s Shannon McKever was named the PBC Player of the Year while USC Aiken’s Kayla Harris was tabbed the Freshman of the Year.  Clayton State’s Tanisha Woodard was named the Defensive Player of the Year while her head coach, Dennis Cox is the Coach of the Year.  In all, 15 players were named to either the first, second or third team.

Shannon McKever is one of only four PBC players in history with 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.  A senior from Florence, S.C.,  she is currently sixth on the league’s all-time scoring list with over 1,600 career points and fourth in rebounding at 1,059.  She is also the PBC career leader in blocks with 245.  This season, McKever has had her best scoring output yet with 17.7 points per game, third in the league.  She leads the conference in blocks and rebounds and is one of only two players to average a double-double per game.

Kayla Harris hit the ground running for USC Aiken, leading the team in scoring with 12 ppg in her first collegiate season.  A native of Raleigh, N.C., Harris is 15^th in the league in scoring and has reached double figures 16 times.  She set a career-high with 23 points against #1 Clayton State on national television and later matched that against Georgia Southwestern.  She was fourth on the team in rebounding with 4.3 per contest and also fourth in assists.  She becomes the first Pacer to be named the PBC Freshman of the Year since Jami Cornwell in 2000.

Tanisha Woodard had the most steals for the team that leads the nation in steals to earn the Defensive Player of the Year award.  A junior from Rome, Ga., she collected a league-best 92 takeaways and also blocked 32 shots for Clayton State, who as a team is third in the league in scoring defense.  Woodard is also ranked 15^th in the league in scoring with 12.0 ppg and adds 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, fifth-most in the Peach Belt.  She becomes the second recipient of the Defensive Player of the Year award, the first from Clayton State, as the award was added to the league for the 2009-10 season.

Now in his seventh season at the helm of the Clayton State Lakers, coach Dennis Cox has elevated the program to the elite status in NCAA Division II.  The second-winningest active coach in all of Division II, Cox’s Lakers are 29-0 on the year, becoming only the second PBC team ever to complete an entire regular season undefeated (joining the 2000-01 Columbus State Cougars).  The Lakers were ranked 21^st in the preseason poll but moved up to #2 eight weeks in and took over the #1 spot following their win over then-No. 1 Lander on Feb. 10.  The Lakers have been ranked #1 for three consecutive weeks heading into the PBC Tournament.  Clayton State won their fourth regular-season championship in seven years 2010-11 and are looking for their fourth PBC Tournament title in that same span.  The Coach of the Year honor is the second for Cox in the PBC, he also received the honor in 2007.

The 2010-11 All-Conference team was selected by the league’s head coaches.  Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players.

Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team

First Team
Chimere Jordan, Georgia College
Shannon McKever, Lander
Shannon Singleton-Bates, Francis Marion
Teshymia Tillman, Clayton State
Tenisha Woodard, Clayton State

Second Team
Hannah DeGraffinreed, USC Aiken
Dominique Gilbert, Columbus State
Dominique Huffin, Georgia College
JaToya Kemp, UNC Pembroke
Lindsey Moss, North Georgia

Third Team
Robin Colbert, Francis Marion
Janyce Ealey, North Georgia
Kayla Harris, USC Aiken
Jasmine Judge, Lander
Courtney Mealing, Francis Marion

Freshman of the Year: Kayla Harris, USC Aiken
Defensive Player of the Year: Tanisha Woodard, Clayton State
Player of the Year: Shannon McKever, Lander
Coach of the Year: Dennis Cox, Clayton State