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Photo by: Jeremy Enlow
Alexis Mason: Southland Conference Player of the Year
3/8/2016 10:04:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Southland Conference Teams and Individual Award Winners
ABILENE – For only the 10th time in the program's 45-year history and first since its move into NCAA DI Athletics three years ago, a member of the Abilene Christian women's basketball team has earned the highest possible individual conference honor – Player of the Year. And on Tuesday morning, the Southland Conference announced that this year's recipient is junior guard Alexis Mason of McKinney, Texas.
This honor is Mason's first postseason award and it comes following a triumphant season for both the individual and her team. Behind career season high averages of 17.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, Mason helped lead the Wildcats to one of the best years in school history as ACU finished its regular-season Saturday with a 26-3 (.897) overall record and the Southland Conference regular-season championship.
The Wildcats (17-1, .944) led the league from start-to-finish and their 17 conference wins were the most by any Southland team within the league since former member UT-Arlington won 17 games in 2003. Despite posting conference win streaks of nine and eight games, ACU was chased all year long by Central Arkansas and didn't clinch its share of the Southland Conference title until last Wednesday. ACU still had to beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday to win the championship outright, and it did, 63-52, in front of its home crowd at Moody Coliseum.
Even as the pressure to win continued to build during conference season, Mason and the Wildcats never cracked. Mason averaged a league best 19.9 points per game through her 18 conference starts and shot an impressive 46.5 percent from the floor while knocking down 38.5 percent of her 3-pointers (57-148).
The 2013 graduate of McKinney North High School started conference play with 12 points against the league's toughest defensive team in UCA and continued to score in double figures through the end of the year. Mason recorded the first of her seven 20-point games five nights later against Northwestern State, and after scoring 19 points in a 71-68 win at Nicholls, she earned the first of three straight Southland Conference Player of the Week awards.
Mason scored a combined 48 points the following week against two of the league favorites from McNeese and Stephen F. Austin, and the week after she helped ACU complete a 3-0 road trip by averaging 21.5 points per game at Sam Houston State and Incarnate Word. Her 26 points against the Cardinals gave her 1,000 career points.
Mason was nominated for a fourth-straight conference citation on Feb. 1, but that honor instead went to McNeese's Jayln Johnson even though Mason registered the first two double-doubles of her career against Houston Baptist (18 points / 11 rebounds) and Lamar (17 points / 13 rebounds).
From there Mason scored a career-high 30 points in the Lamar rematch on Feb. 4, and on Leap Day she won her fourth weekly Southland award upon averaging 22.0 points per game on 73.7 percent shooting vs. HBU and New Orleans. She made 9-of-12 attempts vs. the Huskies and 5-of-7 vs. the Privateers with four 3-pointers in each game.
On Feb. 10 Mason became only the 20th member of ACU's 400-Point Club and less than a month later she joined the school's 500 Club after contributing 20 points vs. the Islanders. Mason is the 12th Wildcat to score more than 500 points in a single season and was the first Wildcat to do so since Jamie Meyer in 2009-10.
Mason completed the regular season with 513 points, 358 of which were scored against Southland opposition.
In being named Player of the Year, Mason joins an elite ACU sorority that includes three-time Lone Star Conference winner Claudia Schleyer (1984-86) and two-time honoree Jennifer Clarkson, who earned the prize in 1995 and 1996. Suzanne Johnson won this award in 1990 before coming back to coach the team to 117 victories between 1992-97, and three additional Wildcats won this award between 1998 and 2001: Caroline Omamo (1998), Jackie Bucher (1999) and Melanie Carter (2001).
Mason's Player of the Year crown comes with the additional distinction of being the program's first member tabbed First Team All-Southland Conference. Suzzy Dimba and Renata Marquez were honorable mentions following ACU's first year in the league, and last year both Dimba and Sydney Shelstead were voted onto the conference's third team.
Shelstead remained a Third Team All-Conference selection for the second consecutive year, while Dimba was tabbed Second Team All-Conference and was voted onto the Southland Conference All-Defensive team for the third-consecutive year.
Many close to the program thought Dimba would be named Defensive Player of the Year, but it was not to be as that honor instead went to Lamar freshman Chastadie Barrs. The Cardinals' guard was tops in league steals with 3.9 per game and ranked ninth in assists (3.7) but was outside the top-10 in scoring (34th, 9.7), rebounding (24th, 5.2) and blocks (45th, 0.2).
Dimba, by comparison, was ranked among the Southland's top-10 in league games for blocks (2.0), steals (2.3) and rebounding (7.6). She also ranked 17th in conference scoring (12.8 ppg) and was 15th in assists (2.6 apg).
Houston Baptist senior Anna Strickland also made a solid case for Defensive Player of the Year as she averaged a double-double in conference play with 13.2 points and 13.9 rebounds per game. She also ranked among the top 12 in assists and assist/turnover ratio, in addition to finishing third in blocks and 10th in steals.
Dimba recorded four double-doubles in conference play with her most recent coming last Wednesday against incarnate Word, during which she pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds, broke the school's single-game record for blocked shots with seven, and scored 19 points to reach 1,000 for her career. She also showcased her durability by playing in excess of 35 minutes seven times with three complete games.
Shelstead, like Dimba, was another defensive rock for the Wildcats all season. She won Southland Conference Player of the Week honors following a double-double performance in the season opener vs. Wayland Baptist and did the same later on vs. Northwestern State (16/13), McNeese (22/12), Corpus Christi (16/11) and Southeastern Louisiana (24/10).
Shelstead started conference play with eight-straight games of 10 points or more, including three-consecutive 20-point efforts vs. McNeese, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State. She also was a force under the basket rejecting 20 shots in 18 conference games and was credited with 27 steals.
Offensively, Shelstead made 51.4 percent of her conference baskets and added 74 free throws on 101 attempts (73.3). On the final day of the season she became the fourth Wildcat this year to surpass 1,000-career points with a 19-point, eight rebound, three block performance vs. the Islanders.
The Wildcats are off from competition all this week as they wait to hear who their opponent will be for the upcoming WNIT. Selection Night is Monday, March 14 and first-round games are scheduled from March 16 to 18.
ABILENE – For only the 10th time in the program's 45-year history and first since its move into NCAA DI Athletics three years ago, a member of the Abilene Christian women's basketball team has earned the highest possible individual conference honor – Player of the Year. And on Tuesday morning, the Southland Conference announced that this year's recipient is junior guard Alexis Mason of McKinney, Texas.
This honor is Mason's first postseason award and it comes following a triumphant season for both the individual and her team. Behind career season high averages of 17.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, Mason helped lead the Wildcats to one of the best years in school history as ACU finished its regular-season Saturday with a 26-3 (.897) overall record and the Southland Conference regular-season championship.
The Wildcats (17-1, .944) led the league from start-to-finish and their 17 conference wins were the most by any Southland team within the league since former member UT-Arlington won 17 games in 2003. Despite posting conference win streaks of nine and eight games, ACU was chased all year long by Central Arkansas and didn't clinch its share of the Southland Conference title until last Wednesday. ACU still had to beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday to win the championship outright, and it did, 63-52, in front of its home crowd at Moody Coliseum.
Even as the pressure to win continued to build during conference season, Mason and the Wildcats never cracked. Mason averaged a league best 19.9 points per game through her 18 conference starts and shot an impressive 46.5 percent from the floor while knocking down 38.5 percent of her 3-pointers (57-148).
The 2013 graduate of McKinney North High School started conference play with 12 points against the league's toughest defensive team in UCA and continued to score in double figures through the end of the year. Mason recorded the first of her seven 20-point games five nights later against Northwestern State, and after scoring 19 points in a 71-68 win at Nicholls, she earned the first of three straight Southland Conference Player of the Week awards.
Mason scored a combined 48 points the following week against two of the league favorites from McNeese and Stephen F. Austin, and the week after she helped ACU complete a 3-0 road trip by averaging 21.5 points per game at Sam Houston State and Incarnate Word. Her 26 points against the Cardinals gave her 1,000 career points.
Mason was nominated for a fourth-straight conference citation on Feb. 1, but that honor instead went to McNeese's Jayln Johnson even though Mason registered the first two double-doubles of her career against Houston Baptist (18 points / 11 rebounds) and Lamar (17 points / 13 rebounds).
From there Mason scored a career-high 30 points in the Lamar rematch on Feb. 4, and on Leap Day she won her fourth weekly Southland award upon averaging 22.0 points per game on 73.7 percent shooting vs. HBU and New Orleans. She made 9-of-12 attempts vs. the Huskies and 5-of-7 vs. the Privateers with four 3-pointers in each game.
On Feb. 10 Mason became only the 20th member of ACU's 400-Point Club and less than a month later she joined the school's 500 Club after contributing 20 points vs. the Islanders. Mason is the 12th Wildcat to score more than 500 points in a single season and was the first Wildcat to do so since Jamie Meyer in 2009-10.
Mason completed the regular season with 513 points, 358 of which were scored against Southland opposition.
In being named Player of the Year, Mason joins an elite ACU sorority that includes three-time Lone Star Conference winner Claudia Schleyer (1984-86) and two-time honoree Jennifer Clarkson, who earned the prize in 1995 and 1996. Suzanne Johnson won this award in 1990 before coming back to coach the team to 117 victories between 1992-97, and three additional Wildcats won this award between 1998 and 2001: Caroline Omamo (1998), Jackie Bucher (1999) and Melanie Carter (2001).
Mason's Player of the Year crown comes with the additional distinction of being the program's first member tabbed First Team All-Southland Conference. Suzzy Dimba and Renata Marquez were honorable mentions following ACU's first year in the league, and last year both Dimba and Sydney Shelstead were voted onto the conference's third team.
Shelstead remained a Third Team All-Conference selection for the second consecutive year, while Dimba was tabbed Second Team All-Conference and was voted onto the Southland Conference All-Defensive team for the third-consecutive year.
Many close to the program thought Dimba would be named Defensive Player of the Year, but it was not to be as that honor instead went to Lamar freshman Chastadie Barrs. The Cardinals' guard was tops in league steals with 3.9 per game and ranked ninth in assists (3.7) but was outside the top-10 in scoring (34th, 9.7), rebounding (24th, 5.2) and blocks (45th, 0.2).
Dimba, by comparison, was ranked among the Southland's top-10 in league games for blocks (2.0), steals (2.3) and rebounding (7.6). She also ranked 17th in conference scoring (12.8 ppg) and was 15th in assists (2.6 apg).
Houston Baptist senior Anna Strickland also made a solid case for Defensive Player of the Year as she averaged a double-double in conference play with 13.2 points and 13.9 rebounds per game. She also ranked among the top 12 in assists and assist/turnover ratio, in addition to finishing third in blocks and 10th in steals.
Dimba recorded four double-doubles in conference play with her most recent coming last Wednesday against incarnate Word, during which she pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds, broke the school's single-game record for blocked shots with seven, and scored 19 points to reach 1,000 for her career. She also showcased her durability by playing in excess of 35 minutes seven times with three complete games.
Shelstead, like Dimba, was another defensive rock for the Wildcats all season. She won Southland Conference Player of the Week honors following a double-double performance in the season opener vs. Wayland Baptist and did the same later on vs. Northwestern State (16/13), McNeese (22/12), Corpus Christi (16/11) and Southeastern Louisiana (24/10).
Shelstead started conference play with eight-straight games of 10 points or more, including three-consecutive 20-point efforts vs. McNeese, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State. She also was a force under the basket rejecting 20 shots in 18 conference games and was credited with 27 steals.
Offensively, Shelstead made 51.4 percent of her conference baskets and added 74 free throws on 101 attempts (73.3). On the final day of the season she became the fourth Wildcat this year to surpass 1,000-career points with a 19-point, eight rebound, three block performance vs. the Islanders.
The Wildcats are off from competition all this week as they wait to hear who their opponent will be for the upcoming WNIT. Selection Night is Monday, March 14 and first-round games are scheduled from March 16 to 18.
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