C-N Williams earns Daktronics All-Region honors

DAHLONEGA, GA – Carson-Newman senior forward Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala.) has been named to the 2011-12 Daktronics Division II All-Southeast Region Second Team, announced on Wednesday.

Williams led the Lady Eagles to 17-11 record this season and a berth in the SAC Tournament semifinals.

The senior forward led the Lady Eagles in scoring, 15 points per game and rebounding, nine per game. She also won over first-year head coach Mike Mincey with effort.

"Zoriah had a tremendous senior year," Mincey said of the Lady Eagles' senior. "And she's been rewarded for it, being named All-SAC, All-SAC Tournament, and now All-Region. She has had an outstanding career and plays in-game as hard as any player I've been around."

Williams had 12 double-doubles to power C-N to a fifth-place finish in the SAC race. She scored in double figures in all but one game this season.

Williams season highlight came in a 68-62 win at home over Lincoln Memorial in late February when she grabbed a career high 18 rebounds and scored 22 points, one shy of her career high, to rally the Lady Eagles.

The senior forward leaves Carson-Newman as one of top scorers in school history. She has 1,157 points for her career which places her ninth all-time at C-N. She passed Data Caldwell and former teammate Ashley Kyle to move into the Top 10 in school history during her 21-point, eight-rebound effort in C-N's win over Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Tournament.

The Lady Eagles beat Lenoir-Rhyne in overtime to advance in the SAC Tournament. Williams had nine points in the extra period to lead the Lady Eagles in the closing minutes.

North Georgia's Jaymee Carnes was selected as the 2011-12 Daktronics Division II Southeast Region Player of the Year. Joining Carnes and earning first-team All-Southeast Region honors is Pfeiffer's Brittany Cox, Clayton State's Tanisha Woodard, USC Aiken's Hannah DeGraffinreed and Lincoln Memorial's Dayshalee Salaman.

With the first team selection, all five players are automatically eligible for Daktronics Division II All-American honors. The team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition. The team is voted on by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Carnes, a sophomore from Gainesville, Ga., made a bold statement in her first season at the Division II level, earning Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year honors, and now Southeast Region Player of the Year honors on the way to leading the country in scoring at 25.0 points per game. She averaged 11.2 rebounds per game and led the country with 20 double-doubles on the season. Carnes had three 30-point games and a career-high 40-point performance against Brenau.

Cox, a junior from Pfeiffer, has been dominant all-season long, leading the Lady Falcons and the Conference Carolinas averaging 20.8 points per game knocking down 84 three-pointers. Cox's 20.8 is good for 7th-best in the nation while she ranks fifth nationally in three-pointers per game. She tallied 12 20-point games and six 30-point games, including a career-high 34 points, a feat she accomplished twice during the 2011-12 season. Cox has also been named a Capital One Academic National First-Team All-American.

Tanisha Woodard, a senior from Clayton State, won back-to-back PBC Defensive Player of the Year awards and has now been named Southeast All-Region for the second straight season. She set the league's career record for steals in a season and ranks in the top 10 in the country in steals per game for a team looking to repeat as Division II National Champions. She eclipsed the 1,000 career point total this season and recorded a triple-double in a win over in-state rival Georgia College

2012 Daktronics Division II Women's All-Southeast Region Team