Newberry’s Marquardt, Wingate’s Atkinson, Tusculum’s Gunn Named To Daktronics All-Southeast Region Women’s Basketball Team

March 11, 2009

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Three women's basketball players from the South Atlantic Conference have been named to the Daktronics All-Southeast Region team, it was announced today. Newberry College's Laura Marquardt and Wingate University's Anna Atkinson have been named to the first team and are now eligible for All-American honors, and Tusculum's Jasmine Gunn has been named to the second team.

Marquardt, a senior from Mt. Pleasant, S.C., adds the all-region honor to an already impressive list of accolades this year. Earlier this month, she was named an ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American, making her only the fourth Newberry College athlete to win the award and only the second first team honoree from the school.

Laura Marquardt

Anna Atkinson

Jasmine Gunn

The senior was also named a first team all-South Atlantic Conference honoree and a co-recipient of the prestigious South Atlantic Conference Scholar-Athlete award. She started all 29 games for the scarlet and gray, which advanced to the Food Lion SAC Tournament semifinals and finished the season with an 18-11 overall record. She averaged 16.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while sinking a school-record 73 three-pointers on the season.

Atkinson is the 2009 South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year, winning the award for the second year in a row. A first team All-SAC honoree, Atkinson was also selected the SAC Scholar-Athlete Award winner for the third consecutive year. She shared the 2009 SAC Scholar-Athlete Award with Newberry's Marquardt.

A four-year starting point guard for the Bulldogs, Atkinson leads the SAC in assists per game (6.6), steals per game (3.5) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.5). She is ranked first in the NCAA Division II national rankings in assist-to turnover ratio and fourth in assists per game. Atkinson set the SAC career steals record Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009. Wingate's playmaker is currently third in the league in scoring (16.3 points per game).

Gunn, a two-time All-South Atlantic Conference First Team honoree, has put together an impressive season to follow her SAC Freshman of the Year campaign of last year, leading the Pioneers in points (15.3), assists (5.9), steals (2.0), free throw percentage (82.5), and 20-point games (9). The 5-0 guard has emerged as one of the top point guards in the conference the past two seasons, owning the second-highest assist average in the league which is also 11th-best in the nation.

The Daktronics NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region Teams are voted on by the sports information directors of the Southeast Region. The region is comprised of the Conference Carolinas, the Peach Belt Conference, the South Atlantic Conference, Chowan University and North Greenville University.

The team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition.

2008-09 Daktronics NCAA Division II Women's Basketball All-Southeast Region

First Team
Phoebe Smith, Columbus State (Southeast Region POY)
Esty Flores, Barton
Syretha Marble, North Georgia
Anna Atkinson, Wingate
Laura Marquardt, Newberry

Second Team
Kevina Ransom, Francis Marion
Jasmine Gunn, Tusculum
Lacey Willis, Armstrong Atlantic St.
Jasmine Whitby, Mount Olive
Marissa Hudley, Queens