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Emily Brister Earns Second Straight All-Region Player of the Year Nod
March 12, 2008
CANYON, Texas - For the second consecutive year, junior guard Emily Brister has been named the South Central Region's Player of the Year by Daktronics after proving to be an overwhelmingly dominant force for the West Texas A&M women's basketball team. The Amarillo, Texas, native was the leading vote-getter on the all-region team, which was released on Wednesday. Brister is joined on the first team by Lone Star Conference rivals Audrey Maxwell of Abilene Christian, Lizzie Brenner of Central Oklahoma and Britney Jordan of Texas A&M-Commerce, as well as Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association standout Michelle Stueve of Emporia State. Brister and Stueve are each three-time first team selections, while Maxwell, Brenner and Jordan were second team selections in 2006-07. Brister's name appeared on 26 of the 28 ballots that were cast throughout the region, which includes the LSC, MIAA and Heartland Conference. Maxwell was the second-leading vote-getter with 21 votes from the region, followed by Brenner with 19 votes, Jordan with 17 votes and Stueve with 16 votes. Earlier this month, Brister was named the LSC South Division Player of the Year for the third straight season as she led the Lady Buffs to a regular season title - with a 13-1 division record - followed by the Lady Buffs' ninth LSC Tournament championship as they earned the region's No. 1 seed for this weekend's regional tournament in Canyon. She was named the LSC Tournament MVP after averaging 25.7 points per game in the Lady Buffs' three-game run to the title in Bartlesville, Okla. WT's standout led the LSC in scoring for the third straight season (21.8 ppg), and she led the league in steals (3.07 per game). Additionally, she ranks sixth in the NCAA in scoring and 22nd in the nation in steals. Last year, Brister was voted first team Daktronics All-America and was an honorable mention selection by the WBCA. The two-time LSC Female Athlete of the Year, Brister became West Texas A&M's all-time leading scorer in a late-season two-point win over Abilene Christian - which clinched the LSC regular season crown and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament - as she broke former Lady Buff Celeste Stevenson's 1,993 career points mark. Three days later, Brister became the first Lady Buff in program history to eclipse the 2,000-point mark and currently has 2,085 career points.
Entering the regional tournament, she has the LSC's all-time scoring mark of 2,770 points (Claudia Schleyer, Abilene Christian, 1982-86) squarely in her sights as she enters her senior season in 2008-09. Brister's prowess also extends off the court and into the classroom, where she carries a 3.90 grade point average in bilingual education. Earlier this month, she was voted first team academic All-America by ESPN The Magazine, and she was also voted the LSC South Division's Academic Player of the Year. Each member of the first team all-region squad will automatically advance to the ballot for the Daktronics all-America team. Because of a tie in voting, eight players were honored on the second team, which is led by MIAA standouts Georgia Mueller of Truman State, Erika Souza of Southwest Baptist, Jill Johnson and Yanique Javois of Missouri Western and Corkey Stiger of Washburn. Renee Renz of Texas Woman's University, Lacey Goldwire of East Central and Alex Guiton of Abilene Christian represent the LSC on the second team. ACU and Missouri Western are the only two schools in the region to place two players on the team. The team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing, and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition. The team is voted on by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). First Team Second Team |
