The Appalachian Athletic Conference has release the women's regular season awards winners for 2009-2010. The Lady Lions had seven different student-athletes receive honors for either their performance on the floor or in the classroom.
Anna Thomas was named to the All-Conference 2nd Team. Thomas is a 5'11" sophomore forward from Cleveland, TN. She competed in all 29 games this regular season. Thomas led the team is scoring averaging 14.03 points per game. She was also the team's second leading rebounder, averaging 8.28 rebounds per game. She tallied 9 double-doubles this season. Her high in points was 23 points and her high in rebounds was 18 for one game.
Jessica Southern and Amber Smith were both named to the All-Conference 3rd Team. Southern, a 5'11" junior forward from Winchester, TN, played in all 29 games and was the team's leading rebounder averaging 8.41 rebounds per game to go along with 10.93 points per game. She also had 9 double-doubles on the season. Smith, 6'1 senior forward from Pompano Beach, FL, joined the team once volleyball was over and competed in 16 games. She averaged 12.38 points per game and 5.63 rebounds per game.
Sara Barnett, Cori Jones, Bethany McArthur, Amber Smith, Jessica Southern, Anna Thomas, and Shea Thomas made the All-Academic Team. In order to receive this award you must be at least an academic sophomore and have a minimum grade point average of 3.25. The Lady Lions had more student-athletes receive this honor than any other school in the conference.
Coach Jamy Bechler is proud of his players saying, "I am excited that Amber Smith, Anna Thomas and Jessica Southern were recognized by the league's coaches. Jessica has been great this year. She has good stats but her value to our team cannot be overstated. She has to play multiple positions, handles the ball for us and is a team leader. She is certainly deserving of the honor. I think Amber is a first-team talent. Getting any kind of award is quite an accomplishment since she played only half the year (she was AAC volleyball player of the year). She really worked hard on her game this year. She watched film at least twice per week with the coaching staff and really tried to be a senior leader. I wish I had her for more years. Anna really improved this year. Obviously, as a sophomore, there are still areas to improve upon. However, I am glad that she got rewarded for her hard work and results. We look forward to seeing her take further steps next year to be the player she can be. She is my kind of player, and I enjoy coaching her. I was disappointed that Morgan Burnette didn't get voted on to the All-Freshman team. For playing hurt the entire year, she still had better stats in points and rebounds than two of the other freshmen voted to the team. Hopefully this serves as motivation for next year."
