ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Big South Conference tonight honored its men's and women's basketball award winners at its annual basketball awards banquet, held at the Asheville Renaissance Hotel.

Radford University's Jason Williams earned men's Player of the Year honors. Andre Smith, a UNC Asheville freshman, was named Rookie of the Year. Pete Strickland, head men's basketball coach at Coastal Carolina received the Coach of the Year award, and Matt Gladieux was named men's basketball Scholar-Athlete.

For the women, Sharon Wilkerson from Liberty University was voted women's Player of the Year. Her teammate Michelle Fricke was named Rookie of the Year and their coach, Liberty University's Carey Green was the women's Coach of the Year. Radford's Jennifer Grant was the women's basketball Scholar-Athlete.

The awards, as well as the All-Conference teams and the All-Rookie teams, are voted on by the Leagues' head coaches, sports information directors and selected media. The Scholar-Athlete award and the All-Academic team are selected by the sports information directors.

The banquet is the start of the 2000 Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Basketball Championship, which begins at the Asheville Civic Center on Thursday. The Big South is a NCAA Division I Conference with eight institutions in the Southeast. Charleston Southern University, Coastal Carolina University, Elon College, High Point University, Liberty University, UNC Asheville, Radford University, and Winthrop University comprise the 16-year-old League, which is based in Charlotte, N.C. The Big South is online at www.BigSouthSports.com

--Press Release courtesy of Drew Dickerson --ELON--