WINCHESTER, Va. – Emory & Henry College Women's Basketball freshman Taylor Blevins has earned another major award after her stellar rookie season. Blevins has been selected as the College Division State Rookie of the Year by the Virginia Sports Information Directors.

The Abingdon, Virginia native adds state honors to ODAC and South Region Rookie of the Year accolades in addition to an All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference Second-Team nod.

It is the first time in nearly 15 years that an Emory & Henry player has been honored by VaSID.  Kelly Smith was a three-time All-State First-Team selection and named the Virginia State Player of the Year as a junior. Smith was also the ODAC Player of the Year and an All-South Region selection that season.

"We are incredibly proud of Taylor. She is such a tremendous hard-worker both on and off the court," commented Head Coach Anne Crutchfield. "We couldn't be more excited about what the future holds for this amazing young woman and our program."

Blevins was also named the ODAC Rookie of the Year and an All-ODAC Second Teamer. She started all 27 games for the Wasps this year and averaged 12.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals per contest. She led the team and was second in the league in field goal percentage (58.2%) and rebounding. Her 24 blocks also are best for E&H and seventh-most in the ODAC. Blevins reached double figures in scoring 16 times and posted 11 double-doubles. She has career-high of 28 points against Pikeville on January 3 and a career-best 18 rebounds at Roanoke on January 13.

Kiana Johnson of Virginia Union University was named the VaSID State Player of the Year after being tabbed as the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year by the WBCA. AnnMarie Gilbert of VUU was selected as the State Coach of the Year.

The VaSID All-State teams are selected by sports information directors of member institutions of the Virginia Sports Information Directors across the Commonwealth of Virginia. VaSID, founded in 1983, selects teams in two divisions (University and College) for 12 sports and three single-division teams in addition to Academic All-State teams across all sports.

---E&H/VaSID---

-photo courtesy of Keith Lucas/Sideline Media