Three Lady Pioneers Honored With Postseason Accolades
Sophomore Harmany Williams winning Defensive Player of the Year leads the Delta Award Winners for 2017-18.
The first season in the Shonda Long Era is in the books and after a shaky start, the Lady Pioneers rebounded nicely to end the year 9-14 (7-7) and competitive in every game they played. This year they were led by Sophomore Harmany Williams and her efforts did not go unnoticed. Leading the team with 17.6 points per game. She was named Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the year, All- Defensive Team, All-Region, All- MCCAA, and 1st Team All- Conference.
"Harmany Williams is well deserving of every award she received and I'm very proud of her," Head Coach Shonda Long said of Williams. "Especially winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. Harmany always wanted to guard the opposing team either best player or best ball handler. I always said defense is something you can't teach, it has to come from within and Harmany Williams definitely has the inner killer instinct on Defense."
Freshman Point Guard had an outstanding second half to the season and earned herself 2nd Team All- Conference and All- Freshman Team status. Bouncing back from injury and playing at such a high level is exciting and something to build around for the Lady Pioneers in 2018-19.
"After tearing her PCL in the 4th game of the season and not being able to play until conference, and still being recognize by the other coaches in conference says a lot about the hard work Marisa put in everyday to come back for her team," Long said.
Third, Freshman Forward Alyssa Mudd earned honorable mention All-Conference status. She also bounced back from an injury and played very nicely down the stretch to earn this accomplishment. She helped spread the floor and give room for Williams on drives, Morton on threes and Shallon Grawey in the post.
"Alyssa Mudd is definitely our most improved player and I'm very proud of her getting recognize by the conference," Long added. "Alyssa broke a bone in her ankle the 2nd week of pre-season workouts and sat out the whole non-conference and the first conference game. She worked hard every day in PT to get back and it showed.
A learning experience in season one for Long, will lead to excitement in year two for the Lady Pioneers who look to build on their progress from this season.