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KUHNS, HILLIARD AND MORENO EARN ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
3/5/2012
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Kylie Kuhns earned second team all-conference, Alle Moreno was honorable mention and Fantasia Hilliard was named Outstanding Freshman as the Big Sky Conference announced its all-league teams and individual awards on Monday afternoon.
Kuhns, who was an honorable mention choice last year as a sophomore, led the Hornets in scoring, field goal percentage and rebounding for the second straight season. The Salem, Ore., native was second in the NCAA with 20 double-doubles and fifth in the nation with 11.8 rebounds per game. With 343 rebounds this year, she is just four away from tying Kristy Ryan for the single-season school record of 347 rebounds. She also has the fourth most rebounds in Big Sky Conference history.
Moreno earned honorable mention after heating up during the conference schedule. The sophomore scored 20+ points in five of the Hornets' last nine games and averaged a team-best 15.8 points per game in league contests. Her 75 made three-pointers this season is just two off Erika Edwards' and Michelle St. Clair's school record 77 three-pointers.
Hilliard, a Sacramento native, was the only freshman to rank in the Big Sky's top-30 in scoring this season. She averaged 8.7 points per game and ranked second in the league in assists with 4.9 per game. The point guard became just the seventh player in school history to reach 100 assists in a single season and is tied for sixth in the school record books with 141.
With Hilliard winning the Big Sky's Outstanding Freshman award for women's basketball and Sacramento State point guard Dylan Garrity winning the same honor for men's basketball, the Hornets swept the league's freshman of the year honors. Only three times in conference history has this happened (Idaho State in 2004-05, Weber State in 1999-2000 and Cal State Northridge in 1997-98).
Hilliard is the first Sacramento State player to be named Outstanding Freshman. The only other regular-season individual award given to the Hornets was Top Newcomer to Kim Sheehy after the 2004-05 season.
In other awards, Eastern Washington senior Brianne Ryan was named MVP while sophomore Kate Lanz of Portland State was selected Top Newcomer. Northern Colorado sophomore D'shara Strange was picked Defensive Player of the Year.
Ryan, Strange, Idaho State's Kaela Oakes and Chelsea Pickering, Montana's Katie Baker and Montana State's Katie Bussey were first team all-Big Sky selections while EWU's Chene Cooper, Montana State's Rachel Semansky, Northern Arizona's Amy Patton and Portland State Eryn Jones joined Kuhns on the second team.
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