Keena Mays Named C-USA Player of the Year

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Mays Named Conference USA Player Of The Year
Junior transfer becomes second player to win Player and Newcomer of the Year


March 11, 2013

IRVING, Texas (SMU) - Keena Mays was named Conference USA Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the conference's coaches and members of the media after leading the Mustangs to their third regular season conference title and the No. 1 seed in the C-USA Championship with a 12-4 record in league play, 21-8 overall, league officials announced Monday.

Mays finished the regular season second in Conference USA with 19.3 points per game and eclipsed 20 points nine times in 21 games. The guard also ranked sixth in the league with 3.9 assists per game. She was named C-USA Player of the Week four times, and shot a league-leading 41.0 percent from 3-point range, making 59 of 144 attempts. The junior transfer posted two double-double, scoring 23 points with 11 rebounds in her first game at SMU, and finished with 29 points, including two buzzer-beaters, and 13 rebounds in a triple-overtime win against UAB.

SMU went on a 10-game win streak, including the first nine conference games, and won a school-record 15 games in Moody Coliseum. Mays is the third Mustang to be named Player of the Year, joining Karlin Kennedy, who was named Western Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year in 2000 and D-dra Rucker, who was named WAC Player of the Year in 2001. She is just the second player in league history to win both awards in the same season.

The Mustangs begin their quest for the Conference USA Championship title Thursday against the winner between eighth-seeded UCF and ninth-seeded Houston in the Tulsa Convention Center at 11 a.m.

[giacfsp]

I made it to most of the home games this year, and she was the best player on the floor every time, even when she didn't score a lot. This was a no-brainer.

Congratulations!

It's criminal that Rhonda Rompola didn't get Coach of the Year, though.