March 10, 2008

Four Raiders were recognized as the women's basketball All-Horizon League honors were announced Monday by the league office.

Freshman guard Shey Peddy was selected as the League's Newcomer of the Year as well as being named First Team All-League and also to the All-Defensive Team. Fellow freshman guard LaShawna Thomas joins Peddy on the All-Newcomer Team while senior forward Sierra Crayton was chosen as the Sixth Player of the Year.

Finally, head coach Bridgett Williams joined Green Bay coach Matt Bollant as the League's Co-Coaches of the Year.

Peddy (Boston, MA/Melrose) leads all Horizon League freshmen in scoring and is fourth overall at 15.9 points per game and has been among the national leaders in freshman scoring as well. She also appears in the League rankings in field goal percentage (6th at .540), assists (7th at 3.4), free throw percentage (11th at .789), steals (1st at 3.3), three-pointers made (13th at 1.4) and percentage (13th at .365) and minutes played (3rd at 34.6).

Peddy was named to the Cal Poly Holiday Beach Classic All-Tournament Team as she scored 20 points with five rebounds, four assists and three steals against Cal Poly and followed that with 31 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals versus North Dakota State. That 31-point performance marked the first time a Raider had scored 30 or more points in a game since February 2003. She is just the sixth Wright State player to accomplish the feat since the program moved up to Division I.

Peddy has also come up big in the closing moments for the Raiders as she scored the game-winning points in each of Wright State's one-point home wins over Evansville, Milwaukee and Valparaiso. She also scored five straight points in the final minute to break a tie at Loyola.

Peddy is the third Wright State player to ever been chosen as the Newcomer of the Year, joining Timothea Clemmer in 1994-95 and Whitney Lewis in 2004-05.

After missing the first six games due to a knee injury, Thomas (Columbus, OH/Eastmoor Academy) came on during the league portion of the schedule, averaging 12.4 points per game. Overall, she appears in the League rankings in scoring (14th at 11.7) and field goal percentage (15th at .432).

Thomas hit 11 of 13 shots in scoring a season-high 24 points against Loyola on February 28 and had 20 points at both Cincinnati and Butler. She scored in double figures 17 times, including each of the final seven games.

With the selections of Peddy and Thomas, nine Raiders have now been named to the All-Newcomer Team since Wright State joined the league in 1994-95. Of the previous seven, five went on to score more than 1000 points in their WSU careers, including Lewis this season.

Crayton (Cahokia, IL/Cahokia) is the initial recipient of the Sixth Player of the Year Award after averaging 7.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game with a field goal percentage at .497. She had 12 points and five rebounds against Butler on January 26, a near double-double of 10 points and nine boards versus UIC on March 1 and nine points at Milwaukee on March 8.

Williams, in her seventh season at the helm of the Raiders, led the squad to a second-place finish in the League standings, its highest ever in 18 years of conference play, and the 11 League wins tied the 2004-05 squad for the highest total. Wright State started the season 2-8, but won 12 of its last 19, including a 7-1 stretch during February and early March.

It is the second time Williams has received a Coach of the Year honor in her career as she was the Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year in 2000-01 while at Chicago State.

Wright State, which finished the regular season at 14-15 overall and 11-7 in the Horizon League, is the #2 seed for this week's Horizon League Tournament. The Raiders open tournament play on Wednesday, March 12, as they host either #7 Youngstown State or #10 Detroit in quarterfinal action at the Nutter Center starting at 7:00.

The following are the 2007-08 women's basketball All-Horizon League honors:

First Team All-Horizon League
Lade Akande, 6-1, Jr., C, Butler
Kailey Klein, 5-11, So., G, Cleveland State
Rachel Porath, 5-10, Jr., G, Green Bay
Traci Edwards, 6-2, Jr., C, Milwaukee
Shey Peddy, 5-6, Fr., G, Wright State

Second Team All-Horizon League
Kayla Groh, 5-7, Sr., G, Green Bay
Lavesa Glover, 6-3, Jr., C, Green Bay
Jessie Miller, 5-8, So., G, UIC
Agnieszka Kulaga, 5-6, Jr., G, Valparaiso
Tiara Scott, 6-0, Jr., F, Youngstown State

All-Newcomer Team
Brittany Boeke, 6-1, Fr., F/C, Loyola
Keisha Collins, 5-6, So., G, Loyola
Shey Peddy, 5-6, Fr., G, Wright State
LaShawna Thomas, 5-6, Fr., G, Wright State
Tiara Scott, 6-0, Jr., F, Youngstown State

All-Defensive Team
Dominique Butler, 5-9, Jr., G/F, Cleveland State
Kayla Groh, 5-7, Sr., G, Green Bay
Turquoise McCain, 5-10, Jr., G, Milwaukee
Shey Peddy, 5-6, Fr., G, Wright State
Lauren Branson, 5-6, Sr., G, Youngstown State


Player of the Year: Traci Edwards, 6-2, Jr., C, Milwaukee
Co-Coaches of the Year: Bridgett Williams, Wright State & Matt Bollant, Green Bay
Newcomer of the Year: Shey Peddy, 5-6, Fr., G, Wright State
Defensive Player of the Year: Dominique Butler, 5-9, Jr., G/F, Cleveland State
Sixth Player of the Year: Sierra Crayton, 5-11, Sr., F, Wright State