NORFOLK, Va.–Delaware State senior NaJai Pollard was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Player of the Year, the conference office announced today. Myasia Jones of Savannah State was named Rookie of the Year, while Coppin State junior Chance Graham earned Defensive Player of the Year honors. Maryland Eastern Shore head coach Fred Batchelor was named Coach of the Year.
All awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
Pollard led the MEAC in scoring (22.7 points per game) and ranked second in the league in rebounds (11.6 per contest) this season, and she sits eighth and 32nd nationally in those respective categories. She also leads the MEAC in field goal percentage (.501) and is fourth in blocked shots (1.9 per game), and she ranked second in the conference in both offensive and defensive rebounds. Delaware State’s all-time leading scorer had seven 30-point games this season to go along with 15 double-doubles.
Jones ranked eighth in the MEAC in scoring this season, averaging 14.7 points per game. She also was among the MEAC’s best on defense, sitting third in the league with 2.3 steals per contest. She scored in double figures 16 times – including five 20-point contests – and she recorded at least five steals in a game four times. Her career high of 28 points came twice – in the season opener against Wesleyan College and two games later against Georgia Southern, and her most recent five-steal performance came at Florida A&M.
Graham pulled down a MEAC-best 11.6 rebounds per game this season, which ranks her 10th in the nation. She also ranked sixth in the MEAC in steals, grabbing 1.7 per contest, and her 1.2 blocked shots per game were the eighth-most in the conference. Graham had 15 double-doubles this season, the 16th-most in the nation, and perhaps her best game as an Eagle came against Niagara, when she dropped 31 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and had five steals. She later grabbed a career-high 25 rebounds against Savannah State, the second-most in a single game in program history.
Batchelor led Maryland Eastern Shore to a second-place finish in the MEAC this season, as the Hawks went 12-4 in league play after being selected to finish fifth in the preseason predicted order of finish. Maryland Eastern Shore goes into the 2019 MEAC Basketball Tournament with a 16-13 overall record as the No. 2 seed, earning a first-round bye. In non-conference play, the Hawks boast wins over UMBC and Mount St. Mary’s, and they rank second in the MEAC in scoring offense (65.9 points per game) and fourth in scoring defense (61.2 points per game).
Joining Pollard on the 2019 All-MEAC First Team are Bethune-Cookman’s Angel Golden, Coppin State’s Brooke Fields, Maryland Eastern Shore’s Ciani Byrom, Morgan State’s Adre’onia Coleman and North Carolina A&T State’s C’coriea Foy.
Player of the Year: NaJai Pollard, Delaware State
FIRST TEAM
Name Pos. Ht. Class School Hometown
Angel Golden G 5-8 Sr. Bethune-Cookman Tampa, Fla.
Brooke Fields G 5-6 Sr. Coppin State Owings Mills, Md.
NaJai Pollard F 5-11 Sr. Delaware State Richmond, Va.
Ciani Byrom G 5-5 Sr. Maryland E. Shore Winston-Salem, N.C.
Adre’onia Coleman* G/F 5-10 Sr. Morgan State Baltimore, Md.
C’coriea Foy* G 6-0 Jr. N.C. A&T State Fayetteville, N.C.
Name Pos. Ht. Class School Hometown
Chance Graham F 6-0 Jr. Coppin State Upper Marlboro, Md.
Sarah Edmond G 5-9 Jr. Howard Freeport, N.Y.
Raven Russell G 5-10 Sr. Norfolk State Millbrook, Ala.
Cinia McCray G 5-9 Jr. N.C. A&T State Broadview, Ill.
Taylor Brown G/F 6-0 Jr. S.C. State Patterson, N.J.
Name Pos. Ht. Class School Hometown
Chasimmie Brown F 6-0 Sr. Bethune-Cookman Deltona, Fla.
Jayla Thornton G 5-9 So. Howard Newark, N.J.
Ayonna Williams G 5-4 Jr. Howard Washington, D.C.
Paulina Afriyie F 5-11 Jr. N.C. Central Bronx, N.Y.
Rodneysha Martin G 5-5 Sr. N.C. Central Olive Branch, Miss.
Name Pos. Ht. Class School Hometown
Camary Harris G 5-6 Fr. Bethune-Cookman Suffolk, Va.
Mya Moye G 5-6 Fr. Florida A&M Washington, D.C.
Krislyn Marsh F 6-0 Fr. Howard Duncanville, Texas
Ashia McCalla G 5-6 Fr. Morgan State Greenbelt, Md.
Myasia Jones G 5-10 Fr. Savannah State Lavonia, Ga.
*denotes tie
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