Richmond, Va. – Elon University women's basketball player
Raven Preston has been named The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie of the Year, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The six-time CAA Rookie of the Week, Preston is the first player in the program's CAA history (dating back to the 2014-15 season) to earn the honor.
Preston ended the regular season averaging a team-best 12.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per contest. She shot 45.3 percent from the floor and added 47 assists and a team-best 37 steals, along with 14 blocked shots. In conference play, she averaged 12.2 points and 8.7 rebounds.
Within the CAA, Preston ranked 16
th in scoring and third in rebounding, as well as ranking among the top 25 in the league in both steals and blocked shots. She was one of only three players in the conference, regardless of year, to average 12 points and eight rebounds per contest.
Preston has had a handful of signature games and moments during her freshman season, including a banked-in, buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer for a 63-60 win at Delaware that placed No. 9 on SportsCenter's Top 10. She also flirted with a triple double against William & Mary, ending with 13 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.
With 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds against Northeastern on Jan. 15, Preston posted her fourth double-double of the season, setting a new freshman record under head coach
Charlotte Smith. She finished the regular season with six double-doubles.
Preston set a career-high with 31 points against Davidson on Dec. 18, marking the most by a Phoenix freshman since at least the 2004-05 season. With 22 points against Old Dominion and 26 at North Carolina Central, she is the only freshman to post three 20-point games under Smith. In that contest against Old Dominion, she added a career-best 15 rebounds.
Preston finished the regular season with a season-high six-game double-digit scoring streak, shooting 56 percent from the floor during the stretch and making 14-of-15 free-throw attempts.
Elon had three Freshman of the Year award winners during the program's time in the Southern Conference – Jenifer Rhodes in 2013-14, Ali Ford in 2009-10 and Tiara Gause in 2008-09. Amy Hill was named Freshman of the Year in the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Conference in 1995-96.
The CAA Tournament tips-off Wednesday and Elon will begin its quest for a conference championship Thursday. As the No. 11 seed, the Phoenix will play No. 6 seed Stony Brook at 7:30 p.m. at SECU Arena in Towson, Md.
-- ELON --
