Mercedes Robinson of Davidson Named Preseason Player of the Year
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Southern Conference women’s basketball coaches have selected an 11-member preseason all-conference team, headlined by 2008-09 Preseason Player of the Year Mercedes Robinson from Davidson.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players in the voting process.
Nine of the 11 SoCon teams had at least one representative on the team with just two squads, Western Carolina and Wofford, having multiple players selected.
Robinson enters this season as the league’s top returning scorer and rebounder at 12.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in 2007-08. She was a member of the coaches all-SoCon team last season as well as a member of the media’s first-team all-conference team.
Chattanooga’s Shanara Hollinquest, an all-conference performer a year ago and the league’s sixth-highest scorer in 2007-08, was the Lady Mocs’ lone representative on the preseason all-conference team.
Western Carolina seniors Brooke Johnson and Lauren Powell (10.7 ppg career average) were honored with preseason all-conference selected as were Liz Miller and Mahagony Williams from Wofford. Johnson averaged 11.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest before missing the final 23 games of the season with an injury last year. Williams was the 2007-08 SoCon Freshman of the Year after leading the league in blocked shots (2.1 bpg) and ranking in the top 10 in rebounds and field goal percentage while Miller averaged a SoCon-best 3.13 steals per game.
A pair of guards who missed the 2007-08 season while recovering from injuries, UNC Greensboro’s Kristen Boone and College of Charleston’s Jade Hughes, were selected to the all-conference team. Boone needs just 54 steals to set the SoCon career record while Hughes has averaged more than 11 points per game in each of her first two seasons.
Also selected to the all-conference team were Emily London (Samford), Ashley Melson (Georgia Southern) and Brittany Mixon (Appalachian State). London averaged 12.5 points per game and connected on 49.2 percent of her three points attempts last season en route to being named OVC Freshman of the Year. Melson and Mixon are both seniors who figure to be team leaders.
2008-09 SoCon Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
Mercedes Robinson, Davidson ? Preseason Player of the Year
Shanara Hollinquest, Chattanooga
Brooke Johnson, Western Carolina
Kristen Boone, UNC Greensboro
Emily London, Samford
Jade Hughes, College of Charleston
Liz Miller, Wofford
Ashley Melson, Georgia Southern
Lauren Powell, Western Carolina
Mahagony Williams, Wofford
Brittany Mixon, Appalachian State