2022-23 Preseason All-SAC Teams
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman, the reigning South Atlantic Conference Tournament Champions, saw Braelyn Wykle and Lindsey Taylor named preseason first-team All-South Atlantic Conference selections announced by the league on Tuesday.
This season marks the fifth straight year that the Lady Eagles can tout at least a pair of preseason All-SAC selections and the fourth time over that period with at least two on the top unit. The Orange and Blue are the only program in the league with a pair on the first team.
Wykle became 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 was the 19th honor of her career and fifth to date for her junior campaign. For the third straight season, Braelyn Wykle earned a regional or national honor being named to the 2021-22 Division II Conference Commissioners Association first-team All-Southeast Region club.
She started all 33 games scoring in double figures 30 times with 15 of at least 20 leading the team in scoring 22 times. On the national scale, the guard is in the top 50 nationally in points per game (42nd with 17.9), free-throw percentage (36th with 85.2), made foul shots (43rd with 115) and made field goals (24th with 205). With a bucket midway through the third period versus Queens on Nov. 20, she became the 28th player in program history to score 1,000 points doing so in game No. 53 for her career finishing with a game-high 21 points.
The guard reset her career high with 36 points going 12-for-21 from the field in an 86-58 win over UVA Wise on Jan. 5 adding five rebounds, five steals and three assists. Wykle Tallied the fourth SAC Player of the Week laurel of her career on Jan. 10 after averaging 24 points, six rebounds and three assists in wins over UVA Wise and at Anderson. In the SAC Tournament title game against Anderson on March 6, Wykle scored 21 points making nine of 10 foul shots adding nine rebounds and five assists. The junior nearly led a comeback at ninth-ranked North Georgia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 12 scoring 26 points chipping in seven rebounds.
The All-American enters her fourth year on campus ranked third on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,528 points, 209 from second and 805 behind the top slot. As the second-most accurate three-point shooter in school history, she is fourth on the program's made triple list with 188, 15 from third, 34 from second and 66 from assistant coach Tatum Burstrom's record.
Taylor repeated 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 made 62 percent of her shots from the field, good for fourth 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 26 double-digit scoring nights with nine of at least 20 points as the team went 25-1 when she scores at least 10 points. Taylor registered eight double-doubles for the campaign leading the team in rebounding 19 times. In other statistical areas, she was fifth in the nation in free-throw attempts with 192 while ranking eighth in the league in rebounding and scoring and fourth in field goals made, good for No. 33 nationally. The post player was named the SAC Tournament MVP scoring 54 points adding 29 rebounds while going 24-for-41 from the field guiding the club to the Championship.
The Maryville, Tenn. native enters the year needing 60 points to reach the 1,000-point total overall for her career and needs 265 to become the 30th member of Carson-Newman's 1,000th-point club.
The season is slated to start on Nov. 12 versus regional finalist Lander from Aiken, S.C. to open the SAC/Peach Belt Crossover at 3 p.m. with air time starting at 2:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off". All of the games this season can heard on the Eagle Sports Network with video coverage available on FloSports.
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