SEGUIN, Texas – In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior forward Bryce Frank of Austin College earned SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year honors for the second consecutive year while Texas Lutheran’s Mel Dixon was voted the league’s Coach-of-the-Year. Complete Release
In that same balloting, Trinity freshman forward/center Hailey Coleman and Johnson & Wales freshman guard Katey Guzman split the vote to share conference Newcomer-of-the-Year honors while Texas Lutheran junior guard Dominique Campos was named SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
A five-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week and three-time D3hoops.com National Team of the Week selection, Frank leads the SCAC in both scoring (19.4 points per game) and rebounding (11.2 per game) heading into this weekend’s conference tournament. If she were to hold that standing, she would become just the fourth player in league history to lead in both categories in a single season and the first since 2004-05. The senior made history during the final regular season weekend, setting new league standards for both career (54) and single-season (21) double-doubles, in addition to becoming just the fourth player in SCAC history to pull down 1,000+ career rebounds. The senior also led the conference during the regular season in field goals made (193) and was third in field goal percentage (59.2 percent), eighth in free throw percentage (69.4 percent) and ninth in steals (36). A preseason All-America selection, Frank becomes just the seventh player in league history to earn back-to-back SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year awards, and she is just the second player from Austin College to win the award after Katy Williams took home top honors following the 2009-10 season.
Frank received six votes from the coaches in the Player-of-the-Year balloting while junior forward Abby Holland of Trinity received the remaining three votes.
Trinity's Coleman started 23 of the 24 games she played, averaging 9.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, marks good for third and second, respectively, on the team. She averaged almost a full point per game more during conference play (10.7) and her 60.9 percent field goal percentage was second best in the conference. She also finished second in the conference during the regular season with 20 blocks. Coleman, who had double-digit scoring efforts in 13 games this season, had a season-high 24 points on 11 of 15 shooting in her collegiate debut in the Tigers’ 91-73 victory over Concordia (Texas) on Nov. 12. Coleman is the fourth Trinity player to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors and the first since Micah Weaver in 2016-17.
Guzman of Johnson & Wales led the Wildcats in scoring and was tops among al first-year conference players at 16.2 points per game, which was good for third overall in the SCAC. She led the league in minute played (806) and was third in steals (56), fourth in the league in three-point field goals made (45) and second in free throw percentage (80.0). Guzman scored in double-digits in 18 of the 22 games she played, including a season-high 30 points in a Jan. 5 game against Centenary – the fourth-most points scored in a game this season. Guzman becomes JWU’s first-ever major award winner in the sport of women’s basketball.
Coleman and Guzman each received four votes from the league’s head coaches in sharing Newcomer-of-the-Year honors. First-year guard Courtney Maass of Southwestern received the remaining first-place vote.
Texas Lutheran’s Campos hounded ballhandlers up and down the floor en route to earning SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors. The junior guard’s quickness and ball hawking skills helped to disrupt opponent’s offensive flow as she helped the Bulldogs to the second-best opponents’ field goal percentage (35.5 percent) and third-best points allowed (57.8 ppg) marks in the league this season. She enters this weekend’s tournament with 26 steals, including 19 in conference play, and her play was a major factor in the Bulldogs finishing second in the conference in turnover margin (+3.84). Campos is the second SCAC Women’s Defensive Player-of-the-Year selection from Texas Lutheran in the last three years. Savannah Hight, who was the program’s first recipient, won the award in 2016-17.
Campos received six votes in the balloting for the league’s Defensive POTY award. Sophomore forward Vanessa Diaz of Dallas received two votes while sophomore guard Emily Daniel of Trinity received the remaining first-place vote.
A year after his team went 8-18 (4-10 in conference play) and failed to qualify for the SCAC tournament, Texas Lutheran head coach Mel Dixon led his squad to an 8 1/2 game turnaround in 2018-19. The Bulldogs currently sport a 16-9 overall mark – 12-4 in league play – and enter this weekend’s conference tournament as No. 3 seed. In his seventh year at the helm of the TLU program, Dixon holds a 107-76 overall mark and in six years in the SCAC he has amassed a 61-25 league record. The 61 conference wins places him in a tie for 10th-most in league history. The Coach-of-the-Year honor is the second for Dixon as he earned his first following the 2013-14 campaign when he led the Bulldogs to a SCAC regular season and tournament title in the program’s first year in the league.
2018-19 SCAC PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Bryce Frank, Austin College, 6-2, Sr., Forward, Granbury, Texas
2018-19 SCAC NEWCOMER-OF-THE-YEAR
Hailey Coleman, Trinity University, 6-0, Fy., Forward/Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Katey Guzman, Johnson & Wales University, 5-3, Fy., Guard, Fort Collins, Colo.
2018-19 SCAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Dominique Campos, Texas Lutheran University, 5-1, Jr., Guard, Laredo, Texas
2018-19 SCAC COACH-OF-THE-YEAR
Mel Dixon, Texas Lutheran University, 16-9 Overall / 12-4 SCAC / No. 3 seed in SCAC Tourney
2018-19 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
Bryce Frank, Austin College, 6-2, Sr., Forward, Granbury, Texas
Abby Holland, Trinity, 6-0, Jr., Forward, Georgetown, Texas
McKenzee Gertz, Colorado College, 5-11, So., Guard/Forward Fort Collins, Colo.
Cecily Woolfolk, Southwestern, 6-0, Jr., Center, Crowley, Texas
Tara Molina, Texas Lutheran, 5-2, So., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
2018-19 ALL-SCAC SECOND TEAM
Ann Savage, Austin College, 5-7, Sr., Guard, Tulsa, Okla.
Abby Hroch, Texas Lutheran, 6-1, So., Forward, Port Lavaca, Texas
Sydney Williams, Schreiner, 6-1, So., Center, Round Rock, Texas
Hailey Coleman, Trinity, 6-0, Fy., Forward/Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Casey Torbet, Colorado College, 5-7, Sr., Guard, Westminster, Colo.
2018-19 ALL-SCAC THIRD TEAM
Jade Odom, Colorado College, 5-10, So., Guard, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Kendall Dyal, Schreiner, 5-7, Sr., Guard, Kerrville, Texas
Emily Daniel, Trinity, 5-9, So., Guard, Georgetown, Texas
Bre Frierson, Centenary, 5-11, So., Forward, Shreveport, La.
Tori Carraway, Southwestern, 6-0, Sr., Forward, College Station, Texas
HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Reagan Chiaverini (So., G), Ally Longaker (So., F), Addison Walling (So., G), Kacie West (So., G); Dallas – Vanessa Diaz (So., F); Johnson & Wales – Brianna Bailey (Fy., G), Katey Guzman (Fy., G); Southwestern – Zhazze Brown (Jr, G), Noel Pratts (So., F), Courtney Maass (Fy., G); Texas Lutheran – Bryanna Delgado (Sr., G), Morgan Rodriguez (Fy., F); Trinity – Julia Ackerman (So., G), Jordan Rudd (So., G)
Coaches 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 could not vote for their own players.
For the complete release, click here.