NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference announced its 2019-20 women's basketball postseason honors Monday, headlined by a Coastal Carolina trio of senior guard DJ Williams, senior center Naheria Hamilton and head coach Jaida Williams. DJ Williams was named the league's Player of the Year, Hamilton was tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Year and Jaida Williams was chosen as the league's Coach of the Year.
UTA's Marie Benson was named Newcomer of the Year and ULM's Gara Beth Self was tabbed Freshman of the Year.
Benson and Williams also received first-team All-Sun Belt recognition. The individual awards and All-Sun Belt first, second, and third teams were voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches and a selected media panel.
Williams is the first player from Coastal Carolina to earn Sun Belt Player of the Year honors. She has been the Sun Belt's leading scorer for most of the season and currently leads the league at 19.4 points per game and steals at 2.43 per game. The Moreno Valley, Calif., native also ranks second in assists (5.3), seventh in rebounding (8.0) and fifth in field-goal percentage (.435). She led the Sun Belt with 14 20-point games and had five games with 10-plus assists. On the year, she recorded 11 double-doubles, ranking third in the Sun Belt.
Hamilton led the Chanticleers in scoring four times this season and started all 29 games for CCU. She has recorded 12 double-doubles on the season, ranking second in the Sun Belt, and leads the Sun Belt in rebounding with a 10.2 per game average. Her rebounding average increased to 12 in conference only games. Hamilton totaled 34 blocks during the regular season to become Coastal's all-time blocks leader in program history with 212.
Self is the first player from ULM to earn Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honors. Self filled in admirably for the Warhawks. The New Albany, Miss., native finished the season averaging 9.9 (12.8 in Sun Belt play) points per game. She was second on the team in assists (61) and steals (28). Self played in all 29 games for ULM, starting 24.
Benson transferred to UTA after three years at UTSA. She made an immediate impact on the Mavericks and in the league this season, ranking second in scoring at 17.4 points per game. She has claimed five Sun Belt Player of the Week honors and has started 28 of 29 games for UTA. Benson tallied 221 rebounds for an average of 7.6 per game and recorded 48 steals.
CCU's Williams earns her first Sun Belt Coach of the Year honor after guiding her Chanticleers to a program best 25 overall wins in 2019-20 and the tournament's No. 2 seed. The Chants also won a program best 15 conference games. CCU won 17 games a season ago and was picked to finish seventh in the league this season.
Little Rock senior guard Kyra Collier, South Alabama senior guard Shaforia Kines and Troy senior forward Japonica James join Williams and Benson on the All-Sun Belt first team.
Coastal Carolina, South Alabama and Troy led the way with three All-Sun Belt selections apiece, followed by Little Rock with two All-Sun Belt selections.
The 2020 Sun Belt Women's Basketball Championship tips off Tuesday, March 10 with four first-round games on campus sites. At Louisiana, No. 5 Little Rock (11-18, 9-9) will square-off against eighth-seeded Appalachian State (11-18, 8-10) at 3 p.m. CT. In the second first-round game in Lafayette, the fourth-seeded Ragin’ Cajuns will play host to No. 9 Georgia Southern (10-19, 7-11) at 7 p.m. CT. At UTA, the No. 3 seed Mavericks host No. 10 seed Texas State (13-16, 6-12) at 6:00 p.m. CT. In the finale in Arlington, sixth-seeded South Alabama (14-16, 9-9) will square off against seventh-seeded Arkansas State (11-18, 8-10) at 8:30 p.m. CT.
The winners of the first-round games advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal-round games at the same campus sites as Tuesday's first round. Wednesday's games tip off at 7 p.m. CT in Lafayette and in Arlington. The quarterfinal-round winners advance to New Orleans to take on top-seeded Troy and second-seeded Coastal Carolina.
The four teams advancing to New Orleans will meet in semifinal matchups scheduled for 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. CT. The Championship game on Sunday is set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN3.
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2019-20 SUN BELT WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTSEASON HONORS
All-Sun Belt First Team
DJ Williams, Coastal Carolina (Sr., G, Moreno Valley, Calif.)
Kyra Collier, Little Rock (Sr., G, North Little Rock, Ark.)
Shaforia Kines, South Alabama (Sr., G, Birmingham, Ala.)
Marie Benson, UTA (Sr., F, Waco, Texas)
Japonica James, Troy (Sr., F, Mobile, Ala.)
All-Sun Belt Second Team
Aja Blount, Coastal Carolina (So., F, Northampton, Pa.)
Naheria Hamilton, Coastal Carolina (Sr., C, Goldsboro, N.C.)
Ty'Reona Doucet, Louisiana (Jr., F, Ville Platte, La.)
Antoinette Lewis, South Alabama (Jr., F, Memphis, Tenn.)
Alexus Dye, Troy (Jr., F, Birmingham, Ala.)
All-Sun Belt Third Team
Pre Stanley, Appalachian State (Jr., G, Rockledge, Fla.)
Jireh Washington, Arkansas State (So., G, Memphis, Tenn.)
Teal Battle, Little Rock (Jr., F, Millington, Tenn.)
Savannah Jones, South Alabama (Jr., G, Ocean Springs, Miss.)
Jasmine Robinson, Troy (Jr., G, Augusta, Ga.)
Player of the Year
DJ Williams, Coastal Carolina (Sr., G, Moreno Valley, Calif.)
Defensive Player of the Year
Naheria Hamilton, Coastal Carolina (Sr., C, Goldsboro, N.C.)
Freshman of the Year
Gara Beth Self, ULM (Fr., G, New Albany, Miss.)
Newcomer of the Year
Marie Benson, UTA (Sr., F, Waco, Texas)
Coach of the Year
Jaida Williams, Coastal Carolina