Murray State senior guard Ashley Hayes was selected as the 2008-09 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year in voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The Racers' Rob Cross was named OVC Coach of the Year while Eastern Kentucky's Kayla Drake was picked as the OVC Freshman of the Year. Tennessee State's Kendra Appling earned the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year award.
Hayes, a native of Humboldt, Tenn., becomes just the sixth player in OVC history to earn back-to-back Player of the Year awards. The All-OVC first team selection, she leads the league and ranks sixth in the nation with 23.1 points per game in the regular-season. Hayes has scored in double-digits all but one game this season, including recording 30-plus points seven times. On Feb. 4, Hayes scored 46 points to break not only the women's school scoring record but eclipsing the men's mark as well. The point output is also the second most in Division I this season. Hayes was named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week six times this year. She has made 85.8 percent of her free throw attempts to rank in the nations top 20. Hayes has posted a 49.2 field goal percentage while shooting 37.7 percent from behind the arc. She is the third Murray State player to receive the award.
Cross, who is in his first year at the helm of the Racer program, earns Coach of the Year honors after guiding his team to its first OVC regular-season crown. Prior to taking over the head coaching position, Cross spent 13 seasons as an assistant for the Racers. Murray State has compiled 22 overall wins to mark its fifth 20-win season while the 16 OVC victories are most in school history. Cross is the fifth first-year coach in OVC history to be named Coach of the Year joining names such as Tennessee Tech's Bill Worrell, Tennessee State's Teresa Phillips, Austin Peay's Andy Blackston and Southeast Missouri's John Ishee. He also becomes the second Murray State skipper to win the award.
Drake is the third Eastern Kentucky player to earn Freshman of the Year honors. Drake finished the 2008-09 campaign with 16.0 points per game to rank fifth in the OVC. The Kokomo, Ind., native also ranks third with 65 three-pointers made. She reached double digits in scoring in all but four games this season, including hitting the 20-point mark eight times. Drake netted a career-best 27 points in the last game of the season against Murray State. She earned Freshman of the Week honors seven times this year. In addition to be named Freshman of the Year, Drake was selected to the All-Newcomer team.
Appling, a senior guard, earns the first-ever OVC Defensive Player of the Year award. She is second in the Conference with 66 steals for a 2.3 per game average during the regular-season. The Jackson, Ga., native is league's active career leader with 253 swipes in her four years at Tennessee State. In addition, Appling was named to the OVC first team for the second straight year.
Joining Hayes and Appling on the 2008-09 All-OVC first team are Eastern Illinois senior forward Rachel Galligan, Murray State senior guard Amber Guffey and Morehead State sophomore Chynna Bozeman.
Guffey, a native of Albany, Ky., earns first-team honors for the second straight year after being selected to the second team in 2006-07. She leads the league with 5.3 assists per game during the regular-season to be ranked in the nation’s top 30. She is second in the OVC in scoring (20.4) and free throw percentage (88.4%). Guffey was also named the Academic All-American of the Year by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Galligan has been selected to the first team for the third straight year. The Bloomington, Ill., native made 55.2 percent of her field goal attempts in the regular-season to lead the league while ranking fourth in scoring with 16.9 points per outing. In the last game of the regular-season, Galligan broke the EIU all-time scoring record and currently has 1,817 points her in career.
Bozeman, a native of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was named to the first-team after earning second team honors last season. She leads league with 90 three-pointers made for a 3.3 per game average during the regular-season. Bozeman also ranks among league leaders in scoring (15.8 ppg), assists (3.3 apg), free throw percentage (80.2%).
The 2008-09 All-OVC second team features one repeat selection and five first-time honorees. Making up the squad are UT Martin forward/center Phyllisha Mitchell (Memphis, Tenn.), Austin Peay senior forward April Thomas (Clarksville, Tenn.), Morehead State junior center Brittany Pittman (Lexington, Kentucky), Tennessee State senior forward Tiffany Jackson (Houston, Texas), Tennessee Tech senior guard Blair Bowens (Tuscumbia, Ala.) and Southeast Missouri senior guard Tarina Nixon (Gilbert, Arizona).
Joining Drake on the All-Newcomer team are Tennessee State sophomore forward Jasmine Smith (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Jacksonville State freshman post Brittany Wiley (Carrollton, Ga.), junior guard Tiffany Hamilton (Winter Haven, Fla.), and Austin Peay freshman Whitney Hanley (Mt. Washington, Ky.)
2008-09 All-Ohio Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Teams
(voted on by the league's head basketball coaches and sports information directors)
FIRST TEAM
Name, School Pos. Ht. Cl. Hometown
Ashley Hayes, Murray State* G 5'10 Sr. Humboldt, Tennessee
Rachel Galligan, Eastern Illinois* F 6'2 Sr. Bloomington, Illinois
Amber Guffey, Murray State* G 5'8 Sr. Albany, Kentucky
Kendra Appling, Tennessee State* G 5'7 Sr. Jackson, Georgia
Chynna Bozeman, Morehead State# G 5'7 So. Reynoldsburg, Ohio
SECOND TEAM
Name, School Pos. Ht. Cl. Hometown
Phyllisha Mitchell, UT Martin F/C 5'10 Sr. Memphis, Tennessee
April Thomas, Austin Peay F 5'9 Sr. Clarksville, Tennessee
Brittany Pittman, Morehead State C 6'3 Jr. Lexington, Kentucky
Tiffany Jackson, Tennessee State F 6'0 Sr. Houston, Texas
Blair Bowens, Tennessee Tech G 5'6 Sr. Tuscumbia, Alabama
Tarina Nixon, Southeast Missouri# G 5'6 Sr. Gilbert, Arizona
Six players appear on the second team due to a tie.
ALL-NEWCOMER
Name, School Pos. Ht. Cl. Hometown
Jasmine Smith, Tennessee State F 6'0 So. Stone Mountain, Georgia
Kayla Drake, Eastern Kentucky G 5'4 Fr. Kokomo, Indiana
Brittany Wiley, Jacksonville State P 5'11 Fr. Carrollton, Georgia
Tiffany Hamilton, Morehead State G 5'8 Jr. Winter Haven, Florida
Whitney Hanley, Austin Peay G 5'10 Fr. Mt. Washington, Kentucky
OVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ashley Hayes, Murray State
OVC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Kayla Drake, Eastern Kentucky
OVC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kendra Appling, Tennessee State
OVC COACH OF THE YEAR: Rob Cross, Murray State
* - 2007-08 First Team All-OVC
# - 2007-08 Second Team All-OVC