By: Seth Stogsdill, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications
ATLANTA - This morning the Southern Athletic Association released the all-conference awards for the 2021-22 women's basketball season as voted on by the league's coaches, and Centre College was well represented, with three players making the All-SAA squads, including one major award winner.
Senior
Presley Chirico was selected to the All-SAA First Team, the first such honor for the Colonels since Kat Wilson in 2019. Chirico had a career year for the Colonels as a senior, leading the team in scoring and ranking in the top ten in the league in points, rebounds and field goal percentage. She was selected as the SAA Player of the Week on three separate occasions in 2021-22 with two of those weekly honors coming after she hit career highs of 30 points against Birmingham-Southern and 17 rebounds against Spalding, both Centre victories. Chirico had eight games with 20 or more points, seven games with double digit rebounds and six double-doubles on the year.
Bailey Rucker took home two honors, earning All-SAA as well as the conference's Rookie of the Year award, making her the first major award winner for Centre women's basketball in the SAA since the league's first season in 2012-13. In her second collegiate game, Rucker hit three free throws with no time left to send Centre's game against Spalding into overtime, a game they eventually won. Rucker was the most adept player in the conference at taking charges, including a five-charge game against Hendrix. In the last two games of the regular season, Rucker hit career high point totals to help Centre secure a top-4 seed and a home quarterfinal game.
Junior
Payton Herold was Centre's final All-SAA honoree, joining Rucker on the All-SAA Honorable Mention squad. Herold was one of the top three-point shooters in the league this season, shooting 40 percent from long distance. Her 81 percent clip from the free throw line was the best mark on a team that finished the regular season ranked fifth in the nation in free throw percentage. Herold was also the top playmaker for the Colonels, leading the team in assists in 2021-22.
