Oct. 8, 2008

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - After a season in which she led the Atlantic Sun Conference in scoring, junior Courtney Hawkins (Greer, S.C./Greer) has landed a spot on the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Conference team, the conference office announced on Wednesday afternoon. Hawkins and the Spartans were selected to finish 11th in the league in both the Preseason Coaches' and Media Polls. ETSU was selected to repeat as both league and tournament champions in both polls and Kennesaw State's Britteny Henderson was selected to repeat as the conference player of the year.

Hawkins, who is the first Upstate basketball player to earn Preseason All-A-Sun honors, finished the season with a league-best scoring average of 16.4 points per game. A balanced guard, the 5-4 Greer native was also 14th in assists (2.52), sixth in free throw percentage (.790), second in steals (2.34), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.358), eighth in 3-point field goals made (1.48) and fourth in minutes per game (34.55). Hawkins stepped up in A-Sun play, averaging a league-best 19.7 points per game and also finishing second in free throw percentage (.856), third in steals (2.38), 13th in 3-point field goal percentage (.364), eighth in 3-point field goals made (1.50) and second in minutes played (36.81). Among her 23 double-digit scoring efforts were the conference's only two 30-point games last season.

The USC Upstate women's basketball team finished its first season of Division I play in 2007-08 with a 5-24 overall record and a 1-15 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference, but it returns an experienced backcourt that features Hawkins and seniors Courtney Bradley (Columbia, S.C./Irmo), who led the conference in assists at the time of an ACL injury that ended her season with 14 games left, and Ebony Johnson (Columbia, S.C./Ridge View), who led all A-Sun guards in rebounding, averaging 7.0 per game.

2008 Women's Basketball Preseason Coach's Poll
Rank 	School (First Place Votes) 	Votes
1. 	ETSU (6) 	124
2. 	Kennesaw State (4) 	106
3. 	Jacksonville (1) 	105
4. 	Belmont 	79
5. 	FGCU 	73
6. 	Lipscomb 	50
7. 	UNF 	48
T-8. 	Campbell 	46
T-8. 	Mercer 	46
10. 	Stetson	33
11. 	USC Upstate 	28
Tournament Champion: ETSU
2008 Women's Basketball Preseason Media Poll
Rank 	School (First Place Votes) 	Votes
1. 	ETSU (12) 	249
T-2. 	Jacksonville (6) 	230
T-2. 	Kennesaw State (8) 	230
4. 	Belmont 	177
5. 	FGCU (2) 	161
6. 	Campbell 	108
7. 	Lipscomb 	105
T-8. 	Mercer 	96
T-8. 	UNF 	96
10. 	Stetson 	90
11. 	USC Upstate 	48
Tournament Champion: ETSU
2008 Preseason All-Conference Team
Pos 	Name (Class) 	School
G 	* Siarre Evans (Jr.) 	ETSU
G 	* Virginia Gregoire (Sr.) 	Jacksonville
G 	Courtney Hawkins (Jr.) 	USC Upstate
P 	Jessica Bobbitt (Sr. 	Belmont
F 	* Britteny Henderson (Sr.) 	Kennesaw State
Preseason Player of the Year: Britteny Henderson, KSU
* - Unanimous Selection