UT Martin's
Jasmine Newsome was named the 2011-12 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year
in voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Eastern Illinois' Ta'Kenya Nixon was selected as the OVC
Defensive Player of the Year while SIUE's Katie Hempen earned Freshman of the
Year honors. The Cougars' Amanda Levens was tabbed the Coach of the Year.
A native of
Millington, Tenn., Newsome becomes the second Skyhawk to
be named OVC Player of the Year after Zabrina Harris earned the honor in
1998-99. The sophomore guard leads the league with 5.9 assists per game. She
dished out a season-best 11 assists versus Austin Peay on Feb. 23. Newsome, who
was also selected to the All-OVC first team, ranks second in league and 18th in
the nation with 19.7 points per outing. She has reached double-digits in points
in all but two games this season with a career-high of 39 coming against
Southern Miss. She is among the league leaders in field-goal percentage (4th,
44.5%), free-throw percentage (6th, 82.4%), steals (3rd, 2.0 spg), three-point
field goals made (9th, 1.9 per game) and three-point field goal percentage (8th,
35.0%). Earlier this season, Newsome had a streak of 36 straight free throws
made that spanned over five games. The mark was eight shy of the OVC record of
44 held by former Murray
State player Paige
Guffey. Newsome received OVC Player of the Week honors four times this season.
Hempen, a
product of Highland, Ill., was named OVC Freshman of the Year
after SIUE's first season of playing a full OVC schedule. The freshman guard averaged 9.9 points while recording 10.4 points per league contest. She ranks second
in the conference with a 86.9 free-throw percentage. Hempen has posted 14
double-digit scoring outings, hitting a career- best 19 twice. The All-Newcomer
selection has seen action in all 27 games for the Cougars so far this year.
Hempen has been named OVC Freshman of the Week four times this season.
Nixon
becomes the league's first ever two-time Defensive Player of the Year honoree
after winning the award in 2009-10. She was also selected as the OVC Freshman
of the Year that season, becoming the first player to win both awards in the
same year. The Michigan City,
Ind., native leads the league
averaging almost three steals per outing. She has recorded a season-high six
steals twice this year. Nixon, who earned her third straight All-OVC first team
selection, also ranks first in the league with a 52.5 field-goal percentage.
She is recording 15.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game this year and is fourth
in the OVC with a 83.4 free-throw percentage. Nixon earned Player of the Week
honors on Jan. 17.
Levens was
tabbed the OVC Coach of the Year after leading her team to a 12-4 league mark
in its first season with a full OVC slate. SIUE, which was predicted to finish
eighth in the conference race, went 7-1 on the road in league play this year.
The Cougars, who will finish reclassifying from Division II and be eligible for
postseason play next year, would have been the third seed in the OVC Tournament
this season. SIUE has also compiled an 18-9 overall mark which is the most wins
in the Division I era and the most since the 2006-07 season.
ALL-OVC
Joining
Newsome and Nixon as repeat first-team selections are UT Martin sophomore guard
Heather Butler and Tennessee Tech senior guard Tacarra Hayes. Austin Peay
senior guard Whitney Hanley moves up to the first team after earning second
team honors last year.
Butler, a Medina,Tenn., native, leads the league and ranks
fifth in the nation with 23.7 points per game. She also ranks third in the NCAA
with a 43.8 three-point field goal percentage while making 3.3 treys per game
to rank fourth among Division I players.
A product
of Lebanon, Ky., Hayes ranks among league leaders with
16.6 points per game and a 41.4 field goal-percentage. She is currently the
league's career active points leader with 1,705 points.
Hanley, a
native of Mt. Washington, Ky., is third in the OVC with 18.3 points
per outing to go with 5.2 rebounds per game this season. She has made 44.0
percent of her shots from the floor to rank fifth in the league. Hanley has
recorded 20 or more points 16 times this season.
The 2011-12
All-OVC second team features five first-time honorees. Making her second
straight appearance on the second team is Eastern Illinois junior forward Marian
King (Chicago, Ill.). Also making the squad are Morehead
State senior guard Courtney Lumpkin (Cincinnati, Ohio), SIUE junior forward Raven
Berry (Collinsville, Ill.), sophomore guard Erica Burgess (Memphis, Tenn.),
Tennessee State junior guard Jasmin Shuler (Clarksville, Tenn.) and Tennessee
Tech junior guard Jala Harris (Madison, Ala.)
King ranks
among league leaders in points (12.8 ppg), rebounds (7.2 rpg) and field goal
percentage (45.6%) while Lumpkin has recorded 16.1 points each time out to rank
sixth in the OVC. Berry
is averaging a double-double so far this season with 11.3 points and 10.0
rebounds per game. Shuler is recording 15.3 points each time out including 2.5
treys per game while Harris is second on the team in scoring with 14.7 points
per contest.
Joining
Hempen on the All-Newcomer team are Eastern Kentucky junior center Jade Barber (Louisville,
Ky.), Jacksonville State freshman forward Briana Morrow (Nashville, Tenn.),
Tennessee Tech junior guard Jala Harris (Madison, Ala.) and Murray State sophomore guard Erica Burgess (Memphis,
Tenn.).
Barber is
second on the team with 11.0 points per game to go with 7.4 rebounds each time
out so far this season while Morrow paced the Gamecocks with 11.4 points per
outing and was second on the squad averaging 7.5 boards.
2011-12 All-Ohio
Valley Conference Women’s
Basketball Teams
(voted on by the league's head basketball coaches and sports
information directors)
FIRST TEAM
Ta'Kenya
Nixon, Eastern Illinois*
Jasmine Newsome, UT
Martin*
Heather
Butler, UT Martin*
Whitney
Hanley, Austin
Peay%.
Tacarra Hayes, Tennessee Tech*
SECOND TEAM
Courtney
Lumpkin, Morehead
State
Raven Berry, SIUE
Mariah
King, Eastern Illinois%.
Erica
Burgess, Murray State
Jasmin Shuler, Tennessee State
Jala Harris, Tennessee Tech
Six appear on the second team due to
a tie.
ALL-NEWCOMER
Jade
Barber, Eastern Kentucky
Briana
Morrow, Jacksonville
State
Jala Harris, Tennessee Tech
Erica
Burgess, Murray State
Katie
Hempen, SIUE
OVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jasmine Newsome, UT Martin
OVC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Katie Hempen, SIUE
OVC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ta'Kenya Nixon, Eastern
Illinois
OVC COACH OF THE YEAR: Amanda Levens, SIUE
* - 2010-11
First Team All-OVC
% - 2010-11
Second Team All-OVC