VIDEO: Braelyn Wykle Interview
VIDEO: Lindsey Taylor Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman, the reigning South Atlantic Conference regular-season champions, saw three players named preseason all-conference announced by the league on Monday with Braelyn Wykle and Lindsey Taylor leading the way on the first team and Addison Byrd logging a spot on the second unit.
This season marks the fourth straight year that the Lady Eagles can tout at least a pair of preseason All-SAC selections. It is the third time in that stretch the team has had at least three players overall and two on the top squad with the most coming prior to 2018-19 with four total. Carson-Newman is joined by UVA Wise as the only programs in the league with a pair of players earning preseason first-team accolades.
Despite a Covid-shortened season, Wykle produced one of the best season in program history culminating in honorable mention All-American honors from the WBCA and D2CCA adding to her SAC Player of the Year award, first-team All-SAC selection, CoSIDA Academic All-District laurel and several weekly honors.
The Greeneville, Tenn. native was the second underclassmen in school history to be named an All-American joining Lisa Stonger, a first-team NAIA All-American, in 1982. Both players were sophomores when they picked up the plaudits. Overall, Wykle was the 13th All-American in the history of the program having put together a list of impressive honors through the first 49 games of her career.
She secured 14 total honors in her first two years highlighted by becoming the SAC Player of the Year in 2020-21. Wykle was the fourth player in Carson-Newman history to earn the league's highest honor and the second to not share the moniker. Leah Jackson was the first and only other solo winner taking home the honor in 1992-93. Brooke Johnson in 2004-05 and Haris Price in 2017-18 were tabbed Co-Players of the Year.
As a two-time first-team All-SAC selection, she is the seventh player in Lady Eagle history to earn a slot on the top squad multiple times in her career. The Orange and Blue have pulled off the feat in four straight years with Mika Wester, Price and Kayla Marosites getting their second during the stretch.
She was the fifth player in program history to earn a slot on an academic roster most recently accomplished by Kayla Marosites, a third-team Academic All-American in 2019-20. Monica Ashburn was an all-district selection in 2003 while Missy Brown and Karen Morton were Academic All-Americans in 1982 and 1986 respectively. Out of the 41 Division II players honored by CoSIDA, she was one of five sophomores to be lauded as an academic athlete.
After finishing the season No. 5 in the country in scoring average, Wykle, tallying 22.7 points per game, reset the school's single-season scoring average record that had stood since the first year of the program when Data Caldwell averaged 22.5 in 1978-79.
On the school's all-time list, the sharpshooter ranked eighth in three-pointers made with 122 for her career. She will enter the 2021-22 campaign needed 63 points to become the 28th member of the program's 1,000-point club.
Wykle's season was a work of art leading the Lady Eagles to a regular-season SAC Championship. Among other national rankings, she is 20th in free throws made (92), 22nd in field goals (147) and 43rd in three-pointers (46). Among SAC players, the point guard ranks second in free-throw percentage (86.0), second in field-goal percentage (47.4), fourth in assists (73), fourth in three-point percentage (39.7), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.66) and eighth in steals per game (1.68).
The Volunteer State native tallied eight 20-point scoring efforts in a row from Jan. 27-Feb. 17, 2021, the most in program history since at least 2002. During the eight-game sequence, she averaged 24.9 points (199 total), shooting 48 percent from the floor (67-for-141), 46 percent from long distance (27-for-59) and 84 percent at the free-throw line (38-for-45). With a 25-point effort at Coker on Feb. 15 and a 27-point night against Mars Hill on Feb. 18, she became the first player since Price did in 2019, 53 games and 744 days prior.
A two-time SAC Player of the Week, she scored in double figures in 18 of the 19 games on the year with 15 efforts of at least 20 points and a career-high 33 at Wingate on Feb. 3 where she went 8-for-16 from the field and six of nine from deep. In the aforementioned win at Coker on Feb. 15, the All-American tallied her first-career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
The Division II Google Cloud Academic All-America program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2019-20 Division II Academic All-America teams.
"There are always things you can get better at," Wykle said. "Last year I focused more on getting to the rim because my freshman year I was mostly an outside shooter. This year it's more trying to lead the team and hopefully get awards that we have not gotten as a team such as SAC Tournament Champs and making it further in the region.
"I was watching film with coach [Burstrom] and last year I was taking a lot of shots quite a good distance behind the three-point line anyways. She told me that it's the same shot. In practice I have been working on it and it feels good."
Taylor earned a slot on the top all-conference club in her debut season at Mossy Creek. With two players on the top club, the Lady Eagles have put a duo on the first team in four straight campaigns. The post player scored in double figures 13 times with four outings of at least 20 points on the year. She had seven double-doubles ranking 34th nationally in the category converting field-goal attempts at a 62-percent clip, good for tops in the SAC and fifth in Division II.
Yanking down 9.1 rebounds per game, she was sixth in the conference. After a monster week, she was named the SAC's Player of the Week on Jan. 25 after averaging 18.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and one block per game shooting 67 percent from the floor and draining 14 of 21 foul shots in wins over Mars Hill, No. 7 Tusculum and Wingate.
Taylor tallied 33 points and 10 rebounds in a 19-point road win at Mars Hill on Jan. 18. Taylor had scored 36 points this season before Monday night's outburst going 12-for-14 from the field and making nine of 13 foul shots to produce her second double-double of the season. It was the first 30/10 game by a C-N player since Kayla Marosites the second round of the 2018 NCAA Women's Basketball Championships against Lander on March 10, 2018.
All told, she led the team in scoring three times and in rebounds 13 times including a career-high night of 16 at UVA Wise on Feb. 10 where she scored 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Taylor swatted 19 shots, good for ninth in the league.
"I feel like this year I have gotten more comfortable with the team," Taylor said. "Last year I didn't want to step on toes and stayed back. This year I have stepped out and taken on more of a leadership role especially with the posts. I want to improve my field-goal percentage but I also want to work on my outside game to help out other players so defenders don't back off on me. When I am outside, I want to be able to shoot that and knock that down."
Byrd is on a preseason roster for the third straight year after securing a spot on the second team for the third postseason plaudit in her career after being an honorable mention selection in each of the last two years. The senior was one of five players to ever earn distinction from the SAC three times in a career joining Leah Jackson (four-time first-team pick), Heather Ford (three), Shari Buford (three) and Kayla Marosites (three).
On the year, she filled up the stat sheet with 11 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists totaling 19 steals and 14 blocks. She scored in double figures eight times posting her best night in the SAC Quarterfinals on Monday with 20 points, her fifth career 20-point night, on 8-for-12 shooting with 4-for-6 accuracy from deep.
The Music City native led the team in rebounding four times and assists three times posting eight nights with three or more assists, two with three-plus steals and four games with three triples. Entering the campaign, Byrd has 922 career points, 15 behind Wykle as the duo are on track to hit the 1,000-point marker by the end of the calendar year.
"Coach has encouraged me to get to the free-throw line more," Byrd said. "I feel like I sort of struggle in that area of my game. I have been working on driving and my ball-handling. I tell myself to be in the moment of everything. Don't go through practice just to go through practice. This is my last preseason so I am trying to be in the moment and take everything in as much as possible."
2020-21 SAC Women's Basketball Preseason All-Conference
First Team
Braelyn Wykle, Carson-Newman
De'Ja Marshall, Mars Hill
Caitlyn Ross, UVA Wise
Kalee Johnson, UVA Wise
Bryanna Troutman, Wingate
Lindsey Taylor, Carson-Newman
Second Team
Addison Byrd, Carson-Newman
Quin Byrd, Limestone
Shemya Stanback, Catawba
Samantha Michel, Anderson
Reagan McCray, Limestone
Jalia Arnwine, Tusculum
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