First Year in A-10 Wraps With End of Year Banquet
4/2/2015 4:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson women's basketball team and fifth-year head coach Michele Savage concluded their first year in the Atlantic 10 by wrapping up the season with their annual end of the year banquet Monday, March 30.
The Wildcats honored their three seniors Lillian McCabe, Shannon Eriksson and Mellissa Giegerich with the senior awards, while handing out three other team awards for the year. Hannah Early was honored with the team's Best Offensive Player Award, Dakota Dukes was given the Wildcat Award and freshman Mackenzie Latt earned the Most Outstanding Player Award.
A two-time Altantic 10 Rookie of the Week honoree, Latt had a fantastic freshman campaign for the 'Cats. She was named to the A-10 All-Freshman Team at the end of the season. Latt finished second on the team in scoring behind Early at 11.6 points a game and pulled in just over eight rebounds to pace the team. Her 8.2 rebounding average was tied for third-best in the A-10, while she ranked fifth in defensive rebounds at 5.7 per game (172 of 246). Latt was also ninth in the league in steals at 1.7 per game.
The Kalamazoo, Mich., native scored in double figures 19 times, including a season-high 21 points at Gardner-Webb. She registered 13 double-digit rebounding games and picked up 11 double-doubles on the season, good for fifth-most in a Wildcat single season since the program restarted in 1992-93.
Early led the way offensively for Davidson, averaging a team and career-best 14.4 points (8th in the A-10), and was second with her 6.6 rebounding averaging. The junior became the program's 17th player to reach the 1,000-point mark during the year and finished the season in 12th place with 1,073 career points. Besides reaching the 1,000-point plateau, Early set the Wildcat single-season record for three-pointers with 74 to give her 168 for her career, putting her in fourth place all-time.
A local product from Huntersville, N.C., Early scored in double figures in 26 of Davidson's 30 games, while hitting the 20-point mark in five of them. She pushed her career totals to 54 double-digit scoring games and 13 contests of 20 or more points.
Dukes, from Raleigh, N.C., had a steady junior season that saw her average 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. She was in the starting lineup in 21 of her 29 games played and scored in double figures 13 times. The Wildcat forward hit the 20-point mark once when she dropped in an even 20 in a home win vs. High Point. With her 264 points scored on the seaon, Dukes is now just 87 away from reaching the 1,000-point total for her career.
The trio of McCabe, Eriksson and Giegerich all wrapped up their final seasons as Wildcats. McCabe played in all 30 games, starting eight of them this year, and finshed her career playing in 102 games with 40 of them being starts. She led the team this year with a 35.7 field goal percentage from three-point range. Eriksson capped off her career playing in 12 games and saw action in 68 total contests, with 25 starts.
Giegerich had a career senior season that saw her record personal bests in nearly every offensive and defensive category. She played in 29 of the 'Cats' 30 games and finished third on the team with a career-high 19 blocks.
Davidson played its first year in the Atlantic 10 as it moved into the conference after a 21-year run in the Southern Conference. The Wildcats' season ended in the first round of the league tournament with a defeat to vs. La Salle.
The Wildcats honored their three seniors Lillian McCabe, Shannon Eriksson and Mellissa Giegerich with the senior awards, while handing out three other team awards for the year. Hannah Early was honored with the team's Best Offensive Player Award, Dakota Dukes was given the Wildcat Award and freshman Mackenzie Latt earned the Most Outstanding Player Award.
A two-time Altantic 10 Rookie of the Week honoree, Latt had a fantastic freshman campaign for the 'Cats. She was named to the A-10 All-Freshman Team at the end of the season. Latt finished second on the team in scoring behind Early at 11.6 points a game and pulled in just over eight rebounds to pace the team. Her 8.2 rebounding average was tied for third-best in the A-10, while she ranked fifth in defensive rebounds at 5.7 per game (172 of 246). Latt was also ninth in the league in steals at 1.7 per game.
The Kalamazoo, Mich., native scored in double figures 19 times, including a season-high 21 points at Gardner-Webb. She registered 13 double-digit rebounding games and picked up 11 double-doubles on the season, good for fifth-most in a Wildcat single season since the program restarted in 1992-93.
Early led the way offensively for Davidson, averaging a team and career-best 14.4 points (8th in the A-10), and was second with her 6.6 rebounding averaging. The junior became the program's 17th player to reach the 1,000-point mark during the year and finished the season in 12th place with 1,073 career points. Besides reaching the 1,000-point plateau, Early set the Wildcat single-season record for three-pointers with 74 to give her 168 for her career, putting her in fourth place all-time.
A local product from Huntersville, N.C., Early scored in double figures in 26 of Davidson's 30 games, while hitting the 20-point mark in five of them. She pushed her career totals to 54 double-digit scoring games and 13 contests of 20 or more points.
Dukes, from Raleigh, N.C., had a steady junior season that saw her average 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. She was in the starting lineup in 21 of her 29 games played and scored in double figures 13 times. The Wildcat forward hit the 20-point mark once when she dropped in an even 20 in a home win vs. High Point. With her 264 points scored on the seaon, Dukes is now just 87 away from reaching the 1,000-point total for her career.
The trio of McCabe, Eriksson and Giegerich all wrapped up their final seasons as Wildcats. McCabe played in all 30 games, starting eight of them this year, and finshed her career playing in 102 games with 40 of them being starts. She led the team this year with a 35.7 field goal percentage from three-point range. Eriksson capped off her career playing in 12 games and saw action in 68 total contests, with 25 starts.
Giegerich had a career senior season that saw her record personal bests in nearly every offensive and defensive category. She played in 29 of the 'Cats' 30 games and finished third on the team with a career-high 19 blocks.
Davidson played its first year in the Atlantic 10 as it moved into the conference after a 21-year run in the Southern Conference. The Wildcats' season ended in the first round of the league tournament with a defeat to vs. La Salle.
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