March 3, 2021

Wykle nets SAC Player of the Year highlighting postseason laurels

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Coming off of one of the best seasons in program history, sophomore Braelyn Wykle was named the South Atlantic Conference’s Player of the Year Wednesday leading a group of four players to earn postseason honors by the league.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Coming off of one of the best seasons in program history, sophomore Braelyn Wykle was named the South Atlantic Conference's Player of the Year Wednesday leading a group of four players to earn postseason honors by the league.

"Sometimes I do let it soak all in," Wykle said. "I have had a lot of people invest in me my whole career – coaches, teammates and family. I have had a really good support system. I think that goes a long way. It's exciting. With the year we had, it's been up and down emotionally and physically but it's a really cool honor to have this year."

The Greeneville, Tenn. native is the fourth player to earn the league's highest honor and the second to nod share the moniker. Leah Jackson was the first and only other solo winner taking home the honor in 1992-93. Brook Johnson in 2004-05 and Haris Price in 2017-18 were tabbed Co-Players of the Year.

The 2019-20 SAC Freshman of the Year joins an elite list becoming the eighth athlete in history to be the top rookie and top player at some point in her career. Alexy Mollenhauer of Anderson is the most recent winning the freshman honor in 2016-17 with two player of the year awards. She is the second C-N player as Johnson nabbed both awards in the same year.

She was named to the top unit for the second straight year as Wykle is the seventh player in Lady Eagle history to earn a slot on the first team 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.

Wykle's season has been a work of art scoring 23.6 points per game that would best Data Caldwell's 22.5 from 1978-79, the first year of women's hoops at Mossy Creek, for the best scoring average in a year in school history. The margin is good for the fourth-highest average in the nation this year. Among other national rankings, she is ninth in field goals (146), 19th in free throws made (87) and 27th in three-pointers (46). Among SAC players, the point guard second in free-throw percentage (86.1), third in field-goal percentage (47.9), third in assists (72), fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.76) and eighth in steals per game (1.72).

"It definitely has something to do with how much I have worked this past year especially on my drives to the basket," Wykle said. "Being a more developed player and shoot outside, inside and get to the foul line, it comes with my role on the team. It has changed since last year."

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 this seven-game sequence, the all-region pick 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 All-American Price did in 2019, 53 games and 744 days prior.

A two-time SAC Player of the Week, she has scored in double figures in every game on the year with 15 efforts of at least 20 points with 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-region honoree tallied her first-career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

�� @B_Wykle spin cycle �� pic.twitter.com/DWXLV5ZyUU
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) February 25, 2021

that hustle to the hoop tho@19LindseyTaylor
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��@AddisonByrd3 pic.twitter.com/1iPf4Z2dWS
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) February 6, 2021

This year is the third time in the history of the league that one team put a four players on the top three units with Mincey's squad doing it for a second time in four years joining the 2017-18 club. Wingate put a quartet of Bulldogs in 2014-15, two of which were on the honorable mention club.

Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) earned a slot on the top 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 a dozen times with four outings of at least 20 points on the year. She has seven double-doubles ranking 25th nationally in the category converting field-goal attempts at a 62-percent clip, good for sixth in Division II. Yanking down 9.3 rebounds per game, she is fifth 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.

Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) secured 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 is 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, 2.3 assists totaling 19 steals and 13 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 assists and rebounding three times apiece posting eight nights with three or more assists, two with three-plus steals and four games with three triples.

Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) rounds out the quartet as the third sophomore on the ledger after being the team's third-leading scorer with a dozen per night tacking on four rebounds and two assists with 25 steals and three shot blocks.

The Furman transfer posted 10 double-digit scoring nights and four games with at least 20 points. Her best game came in her third appearance in a Lady Eagle uniform scoring 26 points in 35 minutes of play in a win over Lenoir-Rhyne on Jan. 16. She went 9-for-15 from the field and made eight of 10 at the line adding six rebounds and three assists. Boshears also tossed in 20-point efforts versus Wingate on Jan. 23, versus Queens on Feb. 6 and against Mars Hill on Feb. 17.

Carson-Newman awaits its NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday evening at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com with the selection show for the 2021 NCAA Women's Basketball Championships. Wall-to-wall coverage of all Carson-Newman athletics news can be found on cneagles.com.

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