ROCK HILL, S.C. – Lindsey Taylor and Braelyn Wykle were named first-team All-South Atlantic Conference selection for the second year in a row while Addison Byrd was named to the honorable mention team and Campbell Penland earned a slot on the all-freshman club announced by the league on Thursday.
Carson-Newman is the only team in the conference to have four different players honored as Wingate and the Lady Eagles are the only two teams with three players on the top three clubs. The Orange and Blue, Limestone and Anderson are the trio of teams with a first-team selection and an all-freshman team nod.
Wykle becomes just the second player in school history to be a three-time first-team All-SAC selection joining Leah Jackson who was a four-time pick from 1989-93. It is the 19th honor of her career and fifth to date for her junior campaign.
Overall, the Volunteer State native has scored in double figures 26 times and has 13 games with at least 20 points on the year including a 30-point outburst. She has led the team in scoring 18 times tallying 17 games with at least three assists, 10 with at least three triples and eight with at least three steals.
With 1,451 career points, Wykle is seventh and is 10 points away from jumping into fourth on the all-time C-N ledger. She has made 183 triples for her career, good for fourth on the all-time list.
On the national scale, the guard is in the top 40 nationally in points per game, free-throw percentage, and made field goals. With 61 three-pointers, she is fourth in the SAC and is third in the league with 94 made foul shots.
Taylor repeats on the first-team all-conference team after being named the SAC's Player of the Week two times as a junior. One of the most efficient players in the nation, the Maryville, Tenn. native has made 64 percent of her shots from the field, good for third in Division II.
The junior scored a career-high 35 points going 15-for-16 from the field in an 85-65 victory at Coker in the regular-season finale on Feb. 26. With a 93.8 field-goal percentage, passed Karen Morton's school record for field-goal percentage in a game (minimum 10 attempts). Morton went 13-for-14, 92.9 percent, on Feb. 3, 1986 against Lipscomb. The shooting clip is the sixth-most efficient effort in Division II on the year registering the most made field goals of the 18 players to convert on at least 90 percent of their shot attempts. Taylor became the first Lady Eagle to make 15 shots from the field since Haris Price made 16 at Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 2, 2019, 86 games and 1,123 days prior.
For the year, the forward has racked up 23 double-digit scoring nights with nine of at least 20 points as the team is 22-1 on the year when she scores at least 10 points. Taylor has registered seven double-doubles for the campaign leading the team in rebounding 15 times.
In other statistical areas, she is 12th in the nation in free-throw attempts with 167 while ranking ninth in the league in rebounding and scoring and sixth in field goals made.
Byrd puts the bow on her career by being named to an all-conference team for the fourth year in a row joining Jackson as the only two players in school history to be on four different of the top three All-SAC rosters. The only other player in program history to be honored four times was Shari Buford who was on the all-freshman team, one second-team honor and two first-team nods.
This season is the third time in five years she is posting double figures on a nightly basis doing so 15 times overall and six in a row. In that time, she is averaging 17 points per game shooting 69 percent, 46-for-67, from the field in that period. Byrd currently sits at No. 17 on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,230 points and 10th on the three-pointers ledger with 127.
Showcasing her all-around skills, the Nashville, Tenn. native has led the team in rebounding 12 times and has 12 games of at least three assists. After two double-doubles in her first four years, she has three this year including a 16-point, 18-rebound, a career-high, day against Mars Hill on Dec. 15. In addition to her scoring, she has 599 rebounds, 253 assists, 105 steals and 58 blocks.
Rounding out the postseason laurels, Penland becomes the seventh player coached by Mike Mincey to be named to the league's all-freshman team joining Wykle on the active roster. Posting 10 points per game, only Mars Hill's Maddie Gillie scored more amongst freshman.
For the year, the rookie posted 14 double-digit scoring games including a season-high 19 in the Lady Eagles comeback win at Anderson on Jan. 8. Penland wasted no time making an impact posting at least 10 points in seven of her first 10 games including 11 in her debut against third-ranked Lander. With 47 three-pointers she has been one of the top long distance shooters all year in the SAC.
On top of her scoring, the Sevierville, Tenn. native racked up a season-best 12 rebounds in a win over Mars Hill on Dec. 15. In addition, she has had 11 games with at least three assists, five of three-plus steals and two with at least three blocks.
Carson-Newman moves forward into the SAC Semifinals with a 2:30 p.m. date with third-seeded Catawba as the two teams have split the first two meetings. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 2:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
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