University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Shanara Hollinquest joined elite company Monday when she was named the Southern Conference women's basketball player of the year by the league's coaches for the second straight season.
Hollinquest, who led the league in scoring and rebounding all season, joins former Lady Mocs Alex Anderson, Katasha Brown and Damita Bullock as two-time winners of the award.
Brown, Anderson and Hollinquest have given UTC five seasons in a row with the honor.
"Sharana's definitely earned it this year," Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said. "She's been doubled and tripled and beat on quite a bit. ... She's had a great year."
Hollinquest, 6-foot forward from Sylacauga, Ala., had 15 double-doubles during the regular season. She averaged 16.7 points and 8.8 rebounds a game against all competition. In SoCon play, when she was repeatedly double- and triple-teamed, she averaged 15.1 points (third in the league) and 8.4 rebounds (second).
Fellow UTC senior Jenaya Wade-Fray joined Hollinquest on the All-SoCon team for the second straight season. Kayla Christopher was named to the all-freshman team.
Wade-Fray is averaging 13.3 points and 5.9 rebounds a game, while Christopher, who has started 24 games, is averaging 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds.
"Jenaya's definitely, at both ends of the floor, a key to our team," Moore said. "Not only does she have to carry some of the scoring load, but we also rely on her a lot of times to guard the other team's best perimeter scorer.
"Kayla's been a pretty cool customer. She's still shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line. She for the most part makes good decisions with the ball and has made an instant impact."
Appalachian State's Darcie Vincent was elected coach of the year, the College of Charleston's Tonia Gerty was the defensive player of the year and Elon's Ali Ford was voted freshman of the year.
The Lady Mocs (21-8, 16-4) are the No. 1 seed in the SoCon tournament after winning their 11th straight regular-season championship. They will face either No. 8 Western Carolina (7-22, 6-14) or No. 9 UNC Greensboro (9-19, 6-14) on Friday at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte.