The SAA announced their 2021-22 women's basketball postseason award winners and All-SAA teams Tuesday, as voted by the league's women's basketball head coaches. Rhodes guard Alli Mayeux won SAA Player of the Year honors, joining SAA Coach of the Year Rodney Rogan as representatives from the SAA champion Lynx on the league's postseason awards. Berry forward Kennedy Moore earned SAA Defensive Player of the Year accolades, while Centre guard Bailey Rucker nabbed SAA Newcomer of the Year honors.
Mayeux is all over the conference leaderboard, as you'd expect for the conference player of the year. Entering next weekend's NCAA tournament, she leads the SAA in a wide variety of rebounding categories, including rebounds per game (9.5), total rebounds (238) and defensive rebounds per game (8.1). She also holds the league lead with 14 double-doubles. She's second in the league in 3-point shooting, converting at a 31.6% clip, and is fourth in scoring (14.7 points per game) and minutes (34.73 per game).
Moore showed lockdown defensive capabilities for the Vikings over the course of the year, leading them to a second-place finish in the league. She finished second in the SAA in blocks with 1.76 per game, and also tallied the second-most total steals with 53. In no small part due to her leadership, Berry proved the best scoring defense in the league this season, allowing just 49.8 points per game. The Vikings were also the best 3-point defense in the league, allowing opponents to shoot just 21.6%.
Rucker enjoyed an outstanding freshman campaign for the Colonels, helping them to a top-four league finish and a semifinal appearance in the SAA tournament. She proved herself to already be one of the best free throw shooters in the conference over the course of her inaugural season, converting at an 82.4% clip to put her second in the league and making 84 free throws to put her second in that category. She finished the season averaging 10.7 points and two assists per game.
Rogan led his Lynx to their second consecutive SAA championship and to their first NCAA tournament appearance under his watch (with no 2021 tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic). He has also led his Lynx to three consecutive SAA championship games. This season Rhodes sits at an impressive 23-2 entering the tournament. They completed a clean sweep of SAA play, finishing with a 12-0 record in official conference play and winning all three SAA tournament contests.
Click here for the full All-SAA teams