Phillips Named SCAC First-Year Player-of-the-Year As Three Ladies Named All-SCAC
In exclusive voting by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior forward/center Zoë Tomlinson of Colorado College earned SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year honors for the second consecutive year, while the staff at University of St. Thomas, led by head coach Mansa El-Ward, was named the league’s Coaching Staff-of-the-Year. Tomlinson was also awarded the league’s Defensive Player-of-the-Year award, and first year forward Shyanne Phillps of Centenary was tabbed the league’s First-Year Player-of-the-Year.
IRVING, Texas – In exclusive voting by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior forward/center Zoë Tomlinson of Colorado College earned SCAC Women's Basketball Player-of-the-Year honors for the second consecutive year, while the staff at University of St. Thomas, led by head coach Mansa El-Ward, was named the league's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year. Complete Release
Tomlinson was also awarded the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year award, and first year forward Shyanne Phillps of Centenary was tabbed the league's First-Year Player-of-the-Year.
Colorado College's Tomlinson enters the SCAC Tournament leading the SCAC in both total points (575) and rebounds (345) and points (23.0) and rebounds (13.8) per game. The league's career leader in rebounds with 1,255 and counting, Tomlinson has posted three of the top seven single season rebounding totals in conference history and her career average of 11.84 boards per game is the highest in league history. Tomlinson has posted 21 double doubles this season, which not only leads the SCAC but is good for third best in the nation. She currently resides just outside the top 10 in SCAC history for all-time points scored with 1,660, needing just eight points to crack that barrier. In addition, the reigning all-American is shooting a league-best 55.5 percent from the field and her 56 blocks also lead the conference. She also averaged 1.4 steals per game in league play (tied for 25th in the conference). Tomlinson was a five-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week over the course of the regular season, the most by one player in a single season since Austin College's Bryce Frank was a five-time recipient during the 2018-19 campaign. She also earned First Team all-SCAC honors for the third time in her career, making her one of just 14 players in league history to receive First Team recognition three or more times. After claiming the league's highest honor in back-to-back seasons, Tomlinson's selection as POTY represents the fourth total award for a Colorado College student-athlete, following Melanie Auguste (2008-09) and McKenzee Gertz (2020-21). She is the league's first back-to-back POTY honoree since Frank in 2017-18 (who shared the award with Trinity's Micah Weaver) and 2018-19.
The clear choice among the coaches and sports information directors, Tomlinson earned 21 votes in the Player-of-the-Year balloting. Graduate forward Destiny Matthews of Concordia University (Texas) received the remaining three first place votes.
In addition to her prowess on the boards which contributed to Colorado College's league-best rebounding margin (+12.0), Tomlinson was the anchor of a CC defensive unit which held SCAC opponents to the league's lowest scoring average at 53.2 points per game as well as the lowest field goal percentage at 34.3 percent. Tomlinson's selection as Defensive Player-of-the-Year marks just the second time in conference history a women's player has earned both POTY and DPOTY in the same season. Southwestern University's Chelsea Leeder was the league's co-POTY and co-DPOTY following the 2012-13 campaign.
The voting for Defensive Player-of-the-Year was much tighter than the POTY vote as Tomlinson received just one more first-place vote (10-9) than Texas Lutheran University senior guard Kailee Mulkey, who joins Tomlinson as one of the 14 players to earn First-Team all-SCAC honors three times in a career. Junior guard Amyia Bowie of St. Thomas received three votes in the DPOTY balloting while McMurry University junior guard Kylie Flippin and Schreiner University junior guard Bell Martinez received one vote each.
Centenary's Shyanne Phillips (Leesville, La.) led all first-year players in both scoring (14.1 points per game) and rebounding (12.0 rebounds per game) during the regular season, finishing ninth and second, respectively, in the SCAC in each category. Her 12.0 rebounds per game established a new single-season program record and she recorded 13 double-doubles this season, which was good for third in the SCAC and the third-most for a first-year player during the regular season in all of Division III. Eleven of her 14 double-digit scoring performances came in conference play and 10 of her 14 double-digit rebounding games were in league contests. Phillips had games of 18, 19, and 20 rebounds this season, which are all in the top 10 all-time in program history. She shot 43.6 percent from the field (14th in the SCAC) and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe (13th in the SCAC) and her 17 blocks were good for seventh in the conference. Phillips, the only freshman to earn a spot on the all-SCAC squad with a Third Team nod, becomes just the second Centenary player in program history to earn SCAC Women's Basketball First-Year Player-of-the-Year honors, joining Addy Tremie, who earned a share of the honor following the 2020-21 season.
Phillips received the lion's share of support in the First-Year Player-of-the-Year balloting, picking up 15 votes from the league's head coaches and sports information directors. First-year forward Zaria Solis of Texas Lutheran received three first-place votes and first-year guards Aaliyah Jones of University of Dallas, Alexa Romero of Southwestern and Katelyn Tietjen of Concordia (Texas) each picked up one vote.
In just her second season at St. Thomas, El-Ward led the Celts to a 14-9 regular season mark, which included a 12-4 conference mark, and the second seed out of the Blue Division. After starting the season 3-9, St. Thomas finished the regular season on an 11-game winning streak – the longest in program history – and head into the conference tournament play as not only one of the hottest teams in the league but in the nation as the Celts' current win streak is tied for the 23rd longest current streak in all of Division III. The Celts have already improved eight games from their 2023-24 mark (7-18) and look for the program's first-ever SCAC tournament win this weekend against Trinity, a team they defeated for just the second time since the 2019-20 season last Frida evening. The Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honor is the first for El-Ward and the program since the Celts joined the SCAC prior to the 2019-20 season.
Phillips was also named to the All-SCAC Third Team and All-Freshman Team and her teammates, junior F Layla Powell (Fort Worth, Texas) and freshman G Nevaeh Rivera (Rosepine, La.) earned Honorable-Mention honors.
2024-25 SCAC PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Zoë Tomlinson, Colorado College, 6-2, Sr., Forward/Center New York, N.Y.
2024-25 SCAC FIRST-YEAR PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Shyanne Phillips, Centenary College, 6-0, Fy., Forward, Leesville, La.
2024-25 SCAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Zoë Tomlinson, Colorado College, 6-2, Sr., Forward/Center, New York, N.Y.
2024-25 SCAC COACHING STAFF-OF-THE-YEAR
University of St. Thomas, Mansa El-Ward, Head Coach, 14-9 Overall / 12-4 SCAC / Blue Division No. 2 Seed
2024-25 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
Zoë Tomlinson, Colorado College, 6-2, Sr., Forward/Center, New York, N.Y.
Destiny Matthews, Concordia (Texas), 5-9, Gr., Forward, Palestine, Texas
Emily Holland, McMurry, 5-9, Sr., Guard/Forward, Mansfield, Texas
Josie Napoli, Trinity, 5-6, Sr., Guard, Beaverton, Ore.
Kailee Mulkey, Texas Lutheran, 5-6, Sr., Guard, New Braunfels, Texas
2024-25 ALL-SCAC SECOND TEAM
Kylie Minter, Trinity, 5-5, Jr., Guard, League City, Texas
Naomi Smith, Ozarks (Ark.), 5-11, Sr., Forward, Lawton, Okla.
Kayla Mackel, Colorado College, Jr., Guard/Forward, Houston, Texas
Kylie Flippin, McMurry, 5-10, Jr., Guard, Wichita Falls, Texas
Lauren Sansano, Texas Lutheran, 5-4, Jr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
2024-25 ALL-SCAC THIRD TEAM
Adryan Alvarez, Dallas, 5-5, Sr., Guard, El Paso, Texas
Abby Beene, Ozarks (Ark.), 5-8, So., Guard, Benton, Ark.
Amyia Bowie, St. Thomas, 5-6, Jr., Guard, Red Oak, Texas
Shyanne Phillips, Centenary, 6-0, Fy., Forward, Leesville, La.
Adrianna McCoy, Southwestern, 5-6, So., Guard, Frisco, Texas
HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Lexi Martin (So., G), Brooklyn Matthews (Jr., F); Centenary – Nevaeh Rivera (Fy., G), Layla Powell (Jr., F); Colorado College – Lauren Strenk (Sr., G), Healy Bledsoe (Sr., G/F), Isa Nelson (So., G); Concordia (Texas) – Kiki Gonzales (Jr., F), Taysie Trejo (So., G), Katelyn Tietjen (Fy., G); Dallas – Alyssa Sullivan (Gr., F; McMurry – Helena Chadwick (Jr., G), Aryana Cleveland (Jr., F), Ashton Garner (Sr., P), Jordan Bravo (Jr., G); Ozarks – Lili Garcia (Jr., G); Schreiner – Brie Sosa (Jr., G), Skye Thomas (Gr., G), Madison Parham (Jr., F); Southwestern – Trinity Benitez (So., F), Ellie Ward (Sr., G); St. Thomas – Ravyn Ellis (Sr., G), Macie Whitfield (So., G), Audrey Hernandez (Jr., G), Kenna Gibson (So., G); Texas Lutheran – Angelina Sotelo (Jr., G), Sarahi Jones (Jr., F); Trinity – Bailey Timmons (Sr., G)
Coaches and sports information directors voted for 15 places for All-SCAC with 15 points awarded for first-place votes, 14 points for second-place votes, 13 points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a 15th-place vote. All players not elected to the First, Second or Third Team, but who received at least one vote, were named Honorable Mention. Coaches and sports information directors could not vote for their own players.
2024-25 ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Shyanne Phillips, Centenary, 6-0, Fy., Forward, Leesville, La.
Livy Sauvageau, Trinity, 5-6, Fy., Guard, Houston, Texas
Katelyn Tietjen, Concordia (Texas), 5-4, Fy., Guard, Hurst, Texas
Aaliyah Jones, Dallas, 5-9, Fy., Guard, Lovelady, Texas
Zaria Solis, Texas Lutheran, 6-3, Fy., Forward, Burnet, Texas
Coaches and sports information directors voted for five places for All-Freshman with five points awarded for first-place votes, four points for second-place votes, three points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a fifth-place vote. There was no Honorable Mention, and coaches and sports information directors could not vote for their own players.
