Women's Basketball March 02, 2017 Athletic Communications

Five Hatters Earn ASUN Postseason Honors

Brianti Saunders Named ASUN Player of the Year

DeLand, Fla. -- After going 13-1 in league play and winning theirr first-ever ASUN regular season championship, the Stetson Hatters have been recognized with seven postseason awards, as announced by the conference office on Thursday.

Senior guard Brianti Saunders was named ASUN Player of the Year, junior post Sarah Sagerer was selected as the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year, and Lynn Bria was voted as the ASUN Coach of the Year.

Saunders and Sagerer also earned first team all-conference honors, Breana Bey earned second team honors, and McKenna Beach was selected to the all-academic team.

Saunders is the third Hatter in program history to earn ASUN Player of the Year honors, following in the footsteps of Sarah Foley (1989-90) and Victoria McGowan (2011-12). During the regular season, Saunders ranked second in the league in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game. She started all 29 games, scoring in double figures 25 times. Her 64 3-pointers was also second-best in the conference, and her 87 assists rank seventh in the league. She was named ASUN Player of the Week three times.

Saunders is also among the best in the nation at the free throw line, where her .934 shooting percentage ranks second in the entire NCAA.

A Sport Business major, Saunders is the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,911 career points. She is a two-time first team all-conference selection.

Sagerer is the second Hatter all-time to be named the league's Defensive Player of the Year (Amber Porter, 2014-15). A consistent force on the defensive end, Sagerer racked up 90 blocks in the regular season, over three times as many as her next closest ASUN competitor. Twice she tied the school record with eight blocks in a single-game, and her 3.1 blocks-per-game average currently ranks seventh among all players in the NCAA.

In addition to blocking shots, Sagerer proved to be league's top rebounder as well, averaging 9.1 boards per game. She pulled down 197 defensive rebounds during the regular season, including 15 during Stetson's overtime win at FGCU on Saturday.

A double major in Business Administration and Finance, Sagerer has career totals of 706 points, 583 rebounds and 167 blocks in just three seasons. It is her first all-conference team selection.

Bey earned her second consecutive all-conference team selection after averaging 13.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game during the regular season. She currently leads the ASUN and ranks 19th in the NCAA in with a .590 field goal percentage. She also ranks among the league leaders in scoring (fourth), rebounding (sixth), and free throw percentage (seventh). A Digital Arts major, Bey has played in all 29 games this season and recorded double-figures in scoring 20 times.

A Health Sciences major with a 3.53 cumulative GPA, Beach earns a spot on the ASUN All-Academic in her first season of eligibility. The sophomore guard has played in all 29 games, making 17 starts and averaging 4.6 points and 3.0 assists per game. Her 88 assists rank sixth in the league, and her 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second.

Bria earns her second all-time ASUN Coach of the Year award and her first with the Hatters after leading the team to its first-ever ASUN regular season championship. Stetson's 24 wins ties for the second-highest single-season total in school history, and the team's current 13-game win streak is just three shy of the all-time record.

Stetson (24-5, 13-1 ASUN) has also been gaining some national notoriety of late as the Hatters received a vote in this week's USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll. Stetson is also ranked 10th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, climbing two spots from last week's No. 12 ranking.

The Hatters are the 1-seed for the ASUN Championship and will host USC Upstate (9-20) in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Edmunds Center. Tickets start at just $10.00 for general admission and $5.00 for students and youth age 3-17. The first 100 Stetson students will be admitted free. Call the Hatter Ticket Office at (386) 738-4287 for more information.

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