MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Six members of the Martin Methodist Women's Basketball team were honored at the Southern States Athletic Conference Basketball Championships Awards Banquet Wednesday night held at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Kyoko Wade, Jemia Carpenter and Teairra Luckett earned berths on the league's All-Conference teams while freshmen Brooklyn Blanchard and Mickey Head earned All-Freshman Team nods.
Wade, a 5-foot-10 forward from Nashville, Tennessee, landed on the league's First Team All-Conference squad after a sensational senior campaign for the RedHawks.
Wade averaged 11.8 points and a league-best 12.7 rebounds in her 30 appearances this season. Wade was easily the top rebounder in the SSAC in 2016-17 as her 12.7 boards per contest were 3.6 more than the league's second-best rebounder – Loyola's Meghan Temple.
OFFICIAL SSAC RELEASE
Wade finished her career as Martin Methodist's all-time rebounder (1,228) and eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier earlier this season. Wade finished with 14 double-doubles on the year and notched 41 for her career – also a RedHawk record. Wade is on pace to finish with a career-best mark in: points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals during her senior season.
Carpenter, a 5-foot-11 forward from Peoria, Illinois, landed on the league's Second Team All-Conference team after a sensational first season as a RedHawk.
Carpenter sat out the first semester, but took the league by storm in the second half of the season with her dynamic play. The junior averaged 11.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest and finished just 11 steals shy of the team lead despite playing in just over half of the squad's 30 ballgames.
Luckett, a 5-foot-5 guard from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, flourished in her senior season and earned a Second Team All-Conference selection.
Luckett averaged 12.4 points and 3.6 rebounds at the guard position for the RedHawks in 2016-17. The senior connected on 40.9 percent of her shots from the floor and finished the season at nearly 35 percent from beyond the arc.
Blanchard, a 5-foot-5 guard from Smyrna, Tennessee, led the RedHawks in points per game (13.0), assists per game (2.67) and steals per game (1.40) as a freshman.
Head, a 6-foot forward from Clarksville, Tennessee, was one of the most efficient scorers for the RedHawks as she connected on 38.9 percent of shots from the floor and a team-best 36.1 percent of shots from beyond the arc.
Karson Mullens, a 5-foot-5 guard from Fairview, Tennessee, was nominated as the team's Champions of Character representative and earned All-Academic honors thanks to her 3.48 grade-point average in pursuit of a degree in Criminal Justice.
The No. 3 seed RedHawks will square off against No. 6 Faulkner (Ala.) University in their SSAC Women's Basketball Championship opener Thursday. Tipoff in the RedHawks quarterfinal matchup is set for 8 p.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
