CONWAY — After winning a share of the 2016-17 Southland Conference regular season championship and earning the top seed for the league tournament after a 24-4 season that includes a 16-2 league mark and a 15-game winning streak headed into the postseason, the Sugar Bears were well represented as the Southland announced its postseason awards Tuesday.

Sandra Rushing, who has guided the Sugar Bears to a 52-8 mark over the past two seasons, was named the Southland Coach of the Year, the 8th conference Coach of the Year award in her career and the third time a Sugar Bear coach has won the award since 2010. No other Southland school has received the award more than once during that time.

Senior guard Maggie Proffitt and junior forward Kierra Jordan were named to the league's all-conference teams, with Proffitt being voted onto the first team for the second straight season and Jordan making the third team in her debut season at Central Arkansas. 

Proffitt becomes just the second Sugar Bear to earn multiple first-team All-Southland selections, joining four-time selection Megan Herbert (2010-13), and gives Central Arkansas seven first-team selections since 2010, tying Lamar for most in the league over the span.

With Jordan making the third team, it marks the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Sugar Bears have had multiple players selected to the all-Southland teams. In all, the Sugar Bears have had 14 all-conference honorees in their 11 seasons in the Southland.

The Sugar Bears, who rank 5th nationally in scoring defense allowing just 53.1 points per game and 12th in field goal percentage defense at 35.1 percent, occupy two of the five spots on this year's All-Defensive team, with senior center Raquel Logan and senior guard Brianna Mullins being voted onto the team. It marks the first time two Sugar Bears have been selected for the Southland's all-defensive team, and is just the third time in league history for a school to have multiple all-defensive selections in the same year.

Mullins, a third team all-Southland selection each of the last two years, narrowly missed the cut for one of the 15 spots this season, finishing 16th in voting as she topped the Honorable Mention list, where she was joined by junior forward Taylor Baudoin. She led the Southland champion Sugar Bears in steals, assists and 3-point percentage and was 4th on the team in rebounds and 2nd in free throws made. 

Proffitt finished as runner-up in the Player of the Year voting behind SFA's Taylor Ross, finishing the regular season as one of just two players to be named Southland Player of the Week on three occasions, being joined by New Orleans' Randi Brown. Proffitt ranked 9th in scoring in the Southland this season at a career-best 15.2 points per game, her third straight season to rank among the league's Top 10 scorers. She topped the league with a .918 free throw percentage, putting her on pace to finish with the Southland single-season record. She was 3rd in 3-point percentage for the season at 38.4 percent, just three makes away from leading the league, and finished 9th in 3-pointers made with 63. In conference play she averaged 15.7 points while shooting 41.1 percent on 3-pointers.

Heading into the postseason, Proffitt has scored in double figures in 23 of the Sugar Bears' 28 games this season, and has averaged 16.6 points in road and neutral-site games, and has averaged 19.1 points over the last seven games, with three 20-point games in the last four. Over the last seven games, she has hit 21 of 47 from 3-point range, 44.7 percent.

Jordan was named to the third team and finished as runner-up for the Newcomer of the Year after averaging 14.0 points and 6.5 rebounds with a .586 field goal percentage – which ranks 19th in the country. She was one of just three Southland players to finish the season averaging at least 14 points and 6.5 rebounds with a field goal percentage better than .500, joining 2nd team selection Kiandra Bowers of Lamar and Northwestern State's Cheyenne Brown, who was not among the honorees. 

Logan was runner-up for the league's Defensive Player of the Year award, finishing behind only Lamar's Chastadie Bars – the nation's steals leader at 4.71 per game. Logan led the conference with 1.6 blocks per game, with a total of 44 to her credit. She is one of only three Southland players to finish the regular season with at least 35 blocks and 30 steals. 

Logan and Mullins anchored a Sugar Bear defense that led the Southland in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, rebounding defense, defensive rebound percentage, and was second in blocks while keeping Southland teams to an average of 12.3 points beneath their scoring average in other league games. They become the fourth and fifth Sugar Bears to earn Southland defensive honors, with Herbert earning the 2012 Defensive Player of the Year and Courtney Duever (2014) and Jameka Watkins (2016) being voted to the All-Defensive team.

Baudoin averaged 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in Southland play, finishing 5th in field goal percentage at .541 and 13th in free throw percentage at .808. She was one of just five Southland players to average at least 11 and 6 with a .500 or better field goal percentage, and one of only two to do so with a free throw percentage above .800.

Rushing was voted the league's Coach of the Year for the first time, though she was also named Southland Coach of the Year by College Sports Madness in 2014. She was a six-time Coach of the Year in the Gulf South Conference during her 10 years at Delta State from 2002-2012. During the season she reached the 500-win plateau for her career, sitting at 505 headed into the league tournament. The Sugar Bears led the league in scoring defense for the second consecutive season, giving up 53.1 per game this year after allowing 52.9 last season – the two best averages for a Southland team since UT Arlington's league-record 51.6 in 2006.

The Sugar Bears will open play in the Southland Conference tournament on Saturday in the semifinals, having received a double bye with their first-place finish in the league. They await the winner of New Orleans vs the Northwestern State/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi winner at 1:00pm Saturday. A victory would put them in the championship game for the second consecutive season as they look to return to the NCAA Tournament. The conference tournament final is slated for noon on Sunday on CBS Sports Network.


Coach of the Year: Sandra Rushing, Central Arkansas
Player of the Year: Taylor Ross, Stephen F. Austin
Defensive Player of the Year: Chastadie Barrs, Lamar
Freshman of the Year: Imani Robinson, UIW
Newcomer of the Year: Moe Kinard, Lamar
 
2016-17 Southland Women's Basketball All-Conference Teams
 
First Team

Name	School	Position	Class	Hometown
Taylor Ross^3	Stephen F. Austin	G	Sr.	Pflugerville, Texas
Maggie Proffitt3	Central Arkansas	G	Sr.	Columbus, Miss.
Randi Brown2	New Orleans	G	Jr.	Houma, La.
Beatrice Attura	Northwestern State	G	Sr.	McKinney, Texas
Suzzy Dimba3	Abilene Christian	F	Sr.	Lubbock, Texas

 
Second Team

Name	School	Position	Class	Hometown
Celia Garcia Paunero	UIW	F	Sr.	Valladolid, Spain
Kiandra Bowers	Lamar	P	Sr.	West Palm Beach, Fla.
Alexis Mason2	Abilene Christian	G	Sr.	McKinney, Texas
Moe Kinard	Lamar	G	Sr.	New Iberia, La.
Chastadie Barrs	Lamar	G	Sr.	Desoto, Texas

 
Third Team

Name	School	Position	Class	Hometown
Taylin Underwood	Southeastern Louisiana	G	Jr.	Livingston, La.
Stevi Parker	Stephen F. Austin	F	Jr.	Bixby, Okla.
Cassidy Barrios	Nicholls	G	So.	Lockport, La.
Lizzy Dimba	Abilene Christian	F	Sr.	Lubbock, Texas
Kierra Jordan	Central Arkansas	C	Jr.	Jackson, Miss.

 
^{^} Player of the Year
² Two-time All-Conference team selection
³ Three-time All-Conference team selection
 
All-Defensive

Name	School	Position	Class	Hometown
Chastadie Barrs&2	Lamar	G	So.	Desoto, Texas
Raquel Logan	Central Arkansas	C	Sr.	West Memphis, Ark.
Suzzy Dimba3	Abilene Christian	F	Sr.	Lubbock, Texas
Celia Garcia Paunero	UIW	F	Sr.	Valladolid, Spain
Brianna Mullins	Central Arkansas	G	Sr.	Rosston, Ark.

 
^& Defensive Player of the Year
² Two-time All-Defensive team selection
³ Three-time All-Defensive team selection
 
Honorable Mention: Brianna Mullins (Central Arkansas), Hope Pawlowski (Nicholls), Taylor Baudoin (Central
Arkansas), Frederica Haywood (McNeese), Victoria Rachal (McNeese), Stevi Parker* (Stephen F. Austin)
 
*Third Team All-Conference selection, Honorable Mention for All-Defensive