HIGH POINT, N.C.?Three UNC Asheville players were named to Big South All-Conference teams Thursday night at the annual woman's basketball awards banquet at High Point University. Ana Baker was named First Team All-Big South while Linda Aughburns was named to the All-Freshman team and Lindsey Montgomery earned All-Academic Team honors.
Baker is the first UNC Asheville player to be named to the first team since Kristal Hood received the honor in 2006. That was also the last year UNC Asheville played High Point in the first round at High Point. Baker is the eighth Asheville player to earn first team honors. Baker is fifth in the conference in scoring (12.8), second in steals (2.62), assist to turnover ratio (1.43) minutes played (35.69), and is fourth in assists (4.50). She is 31st in the national rankings in steals per game. This season, Baker became UNC Asheville's all-time leader in career steals and the school's Division I leader in career assists. She has scored 20 more points five times and has led the Bulldogs in scoring 12 times.
Aughburns becomes the 14th Bulldog freshman to earn All-Freshman Team honors. She is the first since Kyla Jones was named Freshman of the Year in 2007. In Coach Blose's seven seasons in Asheville, she has had five all-freshman players and three Freshmen of the Year players. Aughburns ranked seventh in the conference in rebounding at 6.3 rebounds per game. She started 10 games as a freshman while averaging 6.2 points. She recorded two double-doubles including a 10 point, 15 rebound effort at High Point on Jan. 26.
Montgomery earned her first All-Academic team honor as she posted a 3.2 grade point average. She was fifth in the conference in blocked shots averaging 1.24 per game. She recorded a career-high 28 points at Gardner-Webb on Feb. 16, and had four-double-doubles. Montgomery scored 11 points and had 12 rebounds in the last meeting against High Point.
The No 7 seeded Bulldogs face No. 2 seed High Point in the quarterfinals of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Championships at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The game can be seen live via video streaming at bigsouthsports.com.
