Emory & Henry Women’s Basketball Sees Four Honored In All-ODAC Awards

FOREST, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Women's Basketball Team has seen four of its members recognized with the release of the 2020 All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference Teams, ODAC officials announced Wednesday. It marks the sixth year in a row that the Wasps have had multiple players recognized by the league. The All-ODAC teams are selected by the conference's 13 head coaches.

Seniors forward Sydney McKinney (Big Stone Gap, Va.) and Peyton Williams (Saltville, Va.) have been named to the All-ODAC First Team while senior forward Kara Stafford (Bristol, Tenn.) was picked to the All-ODAC Second Team. Williams adds ODAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors to her résumé while Head Coach Jaclyn Dickens was picked by her colleagues as ODAC Coach of the Year.

RELATED - ODAC All-Conference Release

McKinney moves to the All-ODAC First Team after spending her sophomore and junior years on the second team. She led the team with 14.5 points per game which was fifth in the league and added 8.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks per contest. She reached double figures in scoring 19 times during the season and was named ODAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week twice (Nov. 25, Feb. 18).

Williams earns her second all-league recognition after being named to the All-ODAC Third Team a year ago. She becomes just the third-ever ODAC Defensive Player of the Year, sharing this year's honors with Madison Baum of Bridgewater College. Williams scored in double figures 19 times on the year with 11 double-doubles. She added 9.8 rebounds per game which was second in the league, 2.1 steals (6th – ODAC) and 2.6 assists per contest. Williams was honored by the league office as ODAC Player of the Week three times in the first six weeks of the season (Nov. 18, Dec. 2, Dec. 16).

Stafford was selected to the All-ODAC Second Team after a breakout senior year. She averaged a career-high 12.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game as she shot a league-leading 43.2 percent from three-point range. Stafford reached double figures in scoring in 16 different contests, increasing her career-high in scoring twice on the season. She has played in every game of her career up to this point, and is averaging a personal-best 28.9 minutes per game.

Dickens earns ODAC Coach of the Year in her first year as head coach at her alma mater. She guided the Wasps to a 21-4 overall record and a 15-3 mark in league play. This year's squad made it three-straight 20-win seasons for the program, a new high-water mark and saw a total of five different ODAC Player of the Week recognitions. Dickens makes it twice in the last three years that a Wasp mentor was named Coach of the Year as Anne Crutchfield earned the honor for the 2017-18 season.

The top-seeded Wasps will face #8 University of Lynchburg on Thursday at 1:00 p.m., in the ODAC Tournament Quarterfinals at the Salem Civic Center. E&H defeated Lynchburg, 67-56, in their only meeting of the regular season.

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