JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, FGCU and Stetson all earned individual superlative awards to headline the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) Women's Basketball postseason honors announced Thursday.
Emani Jefferson captured the seventh consecutive ASUN Player of the Year honor for FGCU and became the league's first back-to-back winner since Kiersten Bell in 2021 and 2022. The fifth-year senior has an ASUN-best 57.3 shooting percentage that also ranks 20th in the country. She scored in double digits in all but three of the Eagles' games this season. The Miami, Fla., native leads her team with 101 assists which is sixth-best in the conference.
Central Arkansas' Bree Stephens secured the first ASUN Defensive Player of the Year award in the Sugar Bears' program history. The senior currently ranks fifth in the nation for total blocks and sixth in blocks per game. She has 77 total rejections this season and her 2.7 blocking average leads the ASUN by an entire block per game.
Cameron Thomas was a key leader for Stetson this season and earned herself the Newcomer of the Year award. She played in every game for the Hatters, leading the team with 17.2 points per game over 29 starts. She shot 49.1% from the field while making 39.4% of her three-point attempts. On the boards, the junior recorded 142 rebounds.
Sixth Player of the Year Anovia Sheals played in 28 games for Austin Peay and started in five. On the year, the freshman averaged 10.9 points and 4.9 rebounds with a 43.6 field goal percentage. The Daytona Beach, Fla., native has paced the Govs the entire season from the charity stripe with her 73.5 percentage. Her career high of 22 points came against West Georgia, Feb. 12 and she reached double-figure scoring 15 times.
Sa'Mya Wyatt, who led the Governors with 12.9 points per game this season, was tabbed 2025 Freshman of the Year. The Powder Springs, Georgia native has seen double figure scoring in 21 games, 12 of those being in ASUN play. She holds a 57.2 field goal percentage which leads the conference and is second in the country among freshmen.
After leading FGCU to an undefeated conference season and the ASUN Regular Season Championship, Chelsea Lyles was named the ASUN Coach of the Year. She took over an 0-2 team in early November and led the Eagles to a 27-1 mark in her first season at the helm. She helped guide FGCU to record its first back-to-back undefeated seasons since 2015-16. The Eagles have the nation’s ninth-best scoring defense, allowing just 53.6 points per game and have received votes in the USA Coaches Poll for eight straight weeks.
Player of the Year: Emani Jefferson, FGCU
Defensive Player of the Year: Bree Stephens, Central Arkansas
Newcomer of the Year: Cameron Thomas, Stetson
Sixth Player of the Year: Anovia Sheals, Austin Peay
Freshman of the Year: Sa'Mya Wyatt, Austin Peay
Coach of the Year: Chelsea Lyles, FGCU
First Team All-ASUN
Jade Upshaw**, Central Arkansas
Emani Jefferson**, FGCU
Edyn Battle**, Jacksonville
Bella Vinson**, Lipscomb
Cameron Thomas, Stetson
Second Team All-ASUN
Hayley Harrison**, Bellarmine
Hope Sivori, Bellarmine
Leah Mafua, Central Arkansas
Alice Recanati**, EKU
Claira McGowan**, Lipscomb
Third Team All-ASUN
Sa’Mya Wyatt, Austin Peay
Skylar Treadwell, Bellarmine
Kaitlyn Costner, EKU
Lauryn Taylor, FGCU
Saniyah Craig**, Jacksonville
Charity Gallegos, North Alabama
* denotes number of career All-ASUN honors
Note - a tie in voting resulted in a six-person Third Team
All-Freshman Team
^Sa’Mya Wyatt, Austin Peay
^Liz Freihofer, EKU
^Destiny Jones, West Georgia
Anovia Sheals, Austin Peay
Jasmynne Gibson, North Florida
^
denotes a unanimous selection to the All-Freshman Team