CONWAY, Ark. - In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior forward Katy Williams of Austin College was selected as SCAC Women’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year and ‘Roos head coach Deb Hunter was named SCAC Coach-of-the-Year. The coaches also voted on Newcomer and Defensive Players-of-the-Year, and sophomore forward Sharwil Bell of Rhodes College and junior guard Katie Mathews of DePauw University were the respective recipients. Complete Release

Williams set both a new SCAC single-season rebounding mark (13.3 rebounds per game) and broke the conference’s career rebounding mark this season (1,069 heading into the SCAC tournament). In addition, her 1,506 career points places her in the league’s top 10 in scoring and she posted a double-double of points/rebounds in 16 of the 23 games she played during the regular season. Williams also leads the conference in field goal percentage (55.4 percent) and ranks in the top 10 in conference history in that career category as well. Since the ‘Roos joined the conference prior to the 2006 season, Williams is just the second Austin College female student-athlete to earn a conference Player-of-the-Year award – following Kaitlin Listol, who was the SCAC women’s volleyball POTW in 2007.

In her 11th season as the head coach of Austin College, Hunter led the ‘Roos to an 18-win regular season – the most wins posted by the program since joining the SCAC in 2006 and more wins that the last two seasons combined. In her time at Austin College, Hunter has posted a 138-134 mark, and has a 20-year career record of 268-228. With the earlier announcement of Rodney Wecker as Men’s Coach-of-the-Year, the sweep of COTY honors by Austin College is the first since 2001-02 and just the third time it has happened in SCAC basketball history.

Hunter received eight votes for Coach-of-the-Year while Hendrix College’s Thad McCracken finished with two votes. Wendie Austin-Robinson of Centre College and Kris Huffman of DePauw received one vote each.

Mathews draws the toughest defensive assignments for DePauw and helped lead the Tigers to their lowest opponent scoring average in school history (51.4 ppg - also on pace for the SCAC single-season record). A two-year starter, Mathews averaged 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game and also chipped in on offense, averaging 8.1 points and 2.4 assists. Mathew’s honor marks the third time in four years that a DePauw player has won the league’s top defender award as she follows Lindsay Houin in 2005-06 and Kalei Lowes in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Mathews garnered four votes for Defensive Player-of-the-Year, followed by Spenser Cruikshank of Austin College, Becky Leutjen of Colorado College, Staley Mullins of Southwestern University and Chelsey White of Hendrix, who all received two votes each.

Rhodes’ Bell ranked in the top 10 in six SCAC categories during the regular season to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors. She was fifth in steals per game (2.0), sixth in offensive rebounds per game (2.7), eighth in rebounds per game (7.1), eighth in assists per game (2.7), ninth in scoring (14.1 points per game) and ninth in field goal percentage (45.0 percent). Since the conference began selecting a Newcomer-of-the-Year in 1999-2000, Bell is the second player from Rhodes to earn the honor. Ashley Farrell was named the league’s Newcomer-of-the-Year in 2004-05.

Bell received six votes for Newcomer-of-the-Year while Shante’ Morton of Millsaps College and Collier Clegg of Colorado College picked up two votes each. Sarah Giles of Oglethorpe University and Shae Seagraves of Southwestern each received a vote.

As for the other members of the All-SCAC First Team, Williams is joined on the squad by senior forward Christina Byler of Hendrix, sophomore guard Maggie Prewitt of Centre, senior forward Emily Marshall of DePauw and junior guard Danielle Hubenak of Trinity University.

Byler, a three-time all-SCAC performer and three-time Player-of-the-Week selection, averaged 17.1 points per game during the regular season – tops in the conference. The senior also averaged 10.2 rebounds per contest (second in the SCAC) and posted nine double-doubles. Byler was lethal from the charity stripe for Hendrix, sinking 91.5 percent – which is second in the nation and would be the second-highest single-season mark posted in league history. With 1,281 points, Byler is third among active players in career scoring.

Prewitt currently leads the league and is ranked nationally in assists (4.8 per game) and is second in scoring (16.8 points per game), sixth in field goal percentage (48.2 percent) and fourth in both free throw percentage (84.0 percent) and steals (2.1 per game). An offensive stalwart, Prewitt helped Centre achieve a ranking of 32nd nationally in scoring offense, 36th in field-goal percentage, and 30th in free-throw percentage. She was named the SCAC Newcomer of the Year last season, as well as being selected to the all-SCAC third team.

DePauw’s Marshall posted a team-high 9.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game during the regular season while averaging just over 20 minutes per contest. The senior shot 53.4 percent from the field and 68.4 percent from the line. Of her 240 rebounds this season, 127 have come on the offensive glass. A two-time all-SCAC honoree, Marshall is DePauw’s all-time leading rebounder with 893, including 455 on the offensive boards. She holds the Tigers’ record with 115 starts.

Hubenak is currently third in the SCAC in assists (4.3 per game) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), and also broke Trinity's career assists record this season. She is in the top 15 in the SCAC in points per game (12.6) and field goal percentage (41.8 percent), and is in the top five in both free throw percentage (83.9 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage (36.5 percent). Hubenak is also in the top 10 in steals in the SCAC, making her one of just three players to rank in the top 15 in six different categories. Last season, she was a third team all-SCAC selection.

For the complete release, click here.