NEW YORK – Marquette senior guard Allazia Blockton was unanimously selected as the 2018-19 BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, as announced by the Conference on Thursday. The reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year was unanimously selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches who were not allowed to vote for their own players. St. John’s newcomer Kadaja Bailey was selected BIG EAST Preseason Freshman of the Year, the first Red Storm player to garner the honor since 1988.
BIG EAST Women’s Basketball
Preseason Player of the Year |
| Allazia Blockton, Marquette, Sr., G* |
BIG EAST Women’s Basketball
Preseason Freshman of the Year |
| Kadaja Bailey, St. John’s, Fr., G |
| Preseason All-BIG EAST Team |
| Jaylyn Agnew, Creighton, Jr., F* |
| Kelly Campbell, DePaul, Jr., G* |
| Erika Davenport, Marquette, Sr., F |
| Audrey Faber, Creighton, Sr., F |
| Mary Gedaka, Villanova, Jr., F |
| Mart’e Grays, DePaul, Sr., F* |
| Natisha Hiedeman, Marquette, Sr., G |
| Jovana Nogic, Providence, Sr., G |
| Tori Schickel, Butler, Sr., F/C* |
| Dionna White, Georgetown, Sr., G |
| Amani Wilborn, Marquette, Sr., G |
Blockton was one of four Marquette players to collect awards on Thursday, as classmates Erika Davenport, Natisha Hiedeman and Amani Wilborn were all selected to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team. A total of 11 players were selected to the preseason squad. The Golden Eagles were one of three teams with multiple Preseason All-BIG EAST picks, along with fellow BIG EAST preseason favorite DePaul (two) and Creighton (two). Butler, Georgetown, Providence and Villanova each had one student-athlete selected.
Blockton was named BIG EAST Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in March as she led the Golden Eagles and BIG EAST Conference with 19.1 points per game, breaking a long-standing Marquette record for points scored in a single season with 648. Blockton will enter her final year sitting at No. 3 all-time on the MU scoring list with 1,774 career points and looks poised to become the Golden Eagles' all-time leading scorer, surpassing 1,940 points. She is 80 league points shy of cracking the BIG EAST’s top-20 scoring list, while her career average in BIG EAST play of 18.4 per game would rank 15
th in conference history. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native is the first player in MU program history to earn All-America status in consecutive seasons following back-to-back WBCA honorable mention certificates.
St. John’s only other Preseason Freshman of the Year came when Cozette Ballentine was honored in 1988. Bailey is a four-star guard out of Long Beach, N.Y. She attended high school at St. Mary’s in Manhasset, N.Y., where she averaged 28.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a senior. Bailey, a 6-0 guard, is ranked 91
st overall by ESPN and is the No. 12 guard in the Class of 2018.
Davenport garnered All-BIG EAST Second Team honors in 2017-18, averaging just shy of a double-double (12.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG) thanks to the fourth-best field goal percentage in the BIG EAST at a .523 clip. Wilborn earned All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention accolades last year and once again posted some of her best performances of the season at the BIG EAST Tournament. The All-Tournament Team selection averaged 18 points over the three-game stretch. Hiedeman finished second on the team overall in scoring, averaging 13.4 points over 33 games. She posted seven 20-point games on the year, including a 32-point outing in Marquette’s NCAA Tournament First Round win.
DePaul junior guard Kelly Campbell and senior forward Mart’e Grays were both Preseason All-BIG EAST Team unanimous selections. Campbell and Grays were All-BIG EAST First Team honorees in 2017-18, leading the Blue Demons to at least a share of a fifth-straight regular-season title and its third BIG EAST Tournament crown. Campbell is one of the top all-around players in the BIG EAST as the guard finished first in the league in assists (6.2) and assist-turnover ratio (4.1), and second in rebounding (10.3), while being among the leaders in scoring (10.3) and three-point shooting (.400). She recorded the lone triple-double in the BIG EAST last season. Grays led DePaul in scoring, both overall (14.4) and in BIG EAST play (15.2), totaling five 20-point games and two double-doubles.
Creighton’s Jaylyn Agnew and Audrey Faber each garnered All-BIG EAST Second Team honors in 2017-18 after finishing first and second on their team in scoring. Agnew averaged 12.9 per game to finish 10
th in the BIG EAST, while posting the second-highest blocks per game average at 1.2. Agnew was unanimously selected to the preseason squad. Faber had seven 20-point games and two 30-point games, matching Blockton for the single-game high in the BIG EAST last season with a 34-point outing at Drake.
Villanova’s Mary Gedaka was named BIG EAST Sixth Woman of the Year this past March. Gedaka came off the bench in all but one game yet ranked second on the squad in scoring at 11.6 per game, including 12.4 in 18 BIG EAST contests. She’s led the Wildcats in scoring seven times and is Villanova’s top returning scorer.
Reigning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Dionna White sparked Georgetown to its first BIG EAST Tournament Semifinal appearance in 18 years and a return to the WNIT for a third consecutive season. The rising senior guard finish among the national leaders in steals in 2017-18, and was voted to the All-BIG EAST First Team after finishing as the conference’s No. 2 scorer at 19.1 points per game. She is a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection for a third consecutive season.
Butler’s Tori Schickel is on the cusp of cracking the BIG EAST’s all-time rebounds list as she is just 35 boards shy of the top-20 ledger. The senior forward/center was an All-BIG EAST First Team pick as a junior last year, averaging 16.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and a league-high 1.3 blocks per contest. Her 11 double-doubles ranked third in the BIG EAST and are the most by a 2018-19 returner. Schickel was a unanimous Preseason All-BIG EAST pick.
Providence’s Jovana Nogic earns Preseason All-BIG EAST accolades for a second consecutive year. The senior guard totaled 11 20-point games last season, tied for third most in the league, and posted the nation’s No. 2 free-throw average as Nogic made 86-of-91 from the charity stripe for a .945 clip. She was dangerous from far as well, knocking down 41 percent of her attempts from deep for 2.81 triples per game.