Mitchell, Thompson share top honors

Published 6:30 am Friday, April 17, 2020

LSU senior forward Ayana Mitchell and LSU-Shreveport junior guard DeAuja Thompson were named Louisiana co-players of the year for women’s college basketball, the Louisiana Sports Writers Association announced Monday.

Louisiana College guard ZyUnn Cormier was named the state’s freshman of the year, while LSU forward Awa Trasi was voted newcomer of the year. LSU-Eunice’s Jaime Gonzales is coach of the year.

Mitchell and Thompson each picked up nine votes in the POY voting to share the top honor in the state. Mitchell averaged 13.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game for the Tigers while earning second team All-Southeastern Conference honors despite going down with a season-ending knee injury in early February. She was one of 10 finalists for the Katrina McClain Award and was a Top 30 Senior CLASS Award candidate.

Thompson was named the Red River Athletic Conference player of the year and was a third team NAIA All-American after averaging 16.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Pilots.

Cormier averaged 15.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game for Louisiana College while being named the American Southwest Conference East Division freshman of the year.

Trasi, a transfer from Northwest Florida State College, averaged 6.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Lady Tigers. Over the past nine games of the year — all starts — she averaged 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, including a career-high 22 points in a win over Tennessee.

In his first year with the program, Gonzales led LSU-Eunice to a 21-7 record and captured the school’s third straight Louisiana Community College Athletic Conference (LCCAC) regular season title. The team won its first Region 23 game in program history, its first postseason win since 2009.

Mitchell and Thompson were joined on the five-person first team by guard Ava Jones (LSU-Eunice), guard Kelsey Thaxton (LSU-Alexandria) and forward Krystal Freeman (Tulane).

The second team includes guard Kaila Anthony (Loyola), forward Ty’Reona Doucet (Louisiana), guard Rehema Franklin (New Orleans), guard Khayla Pointer (LSU) and Faustine Aifuwa (LSU). Third team includes guard Amber Dixon (Louisiana Tech), forward Damilola Balogun (McNeese State), Cormier (Louisiana College), guard Justice Coleman (Grambling State) and center Alexandria Pollard (Bossier Parish Community College).

Seven players from around the state earned honorable mention accolades, including Kira Bonner (Northwestern State), Arsula Clark (Tulane), Ciera Daniels (LSU-Alexandria), Gara Beth Self (ULM), Celica Sterling (Southeastern Louisiana), Kendriana Washington (LSU-Alexandria) and Asia Woods (New Orleans).