GREENSBORO, N.C. – For the second consecutive year, Louisville guard Dana Evans has been tabbed the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year by the league’s Blue Ribbon Panel and the ACC’s 15 head coaches.
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Congrats to this season's standouts determined by the Blue Ribbon Panel and the ACC Head Coaches! pic.twitter.com/0rNQYXyHxS
— ACC Women's Basketball (@accwbb) March 2, 2021
It marks the fourth straight year that the Cardinals have produced the ACC Women’s Player of the Year, matching Duke (2000-05 for the longest such streak in league history.
Syracuse’s Kamilla Cardoso was tabbed the ACC Rookie of the Year, while Georgia Tech’s Nell Fortner was voted ACC Coach of the Year by the Blue Ribbon Panel.
The conference’s head coaches chose Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld and NC State’s Wes Moore for ACC Rookie and Coach of the Year, respectively.
Additionally, Georgia Tech senior forward Lorela Cubaj and Syracuse’s Cardoso were voted ACC Co-Defensive Players of the Year by the league’s head coaches, while NC State’s Jada Boyd and Syracuse’s Emily Engstler earned Co-Sixth Player of the Year honors.
The 2021 selections mark the first time that conference has awarded Co-Defensive Players of the Year since the award started in 2005 and the first time the league has had Co-Sixth Players of the Year since the honor began in 2008.
Georgia Tech junior guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen received the nod as the ACC’s Most Improved Player.
Evans leads the conference in scoring with 21.0 points per game and has tallied 17 20-point games in 23 contests for the Cardinals this season. Her scoring average is the sixth best for a Power 5 Conference player. Evans has scored in double figures in 40 consecutive games, which is the longest streak at UofL in the last 20 years. The senior has been terrific from the free-throw line, connecting on 93.8% of her attempts to lead the ACC and rank second nationally.
Evans is a finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (the nation’s top shooting guard) and the Senior CLASS Award. She was named to the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award Midseason Teams.
After both claimed a spot on the ACC’s Newcomer Watch List prior to the season, Cardoso garnered the Blue Ribbon Panel’s Rookie of the Year selection, and Westbeld claimed the honor from the head coaches.
Westbeld leads all league freshmen in scoring with 14.9 points per game, while Cardoso is second with 14.3. Cardoso paces the conference’s rookies with 8.5 rebounds per game, and Westbeld is second with 7.8.
Cardoso claimed ACC Freshman of the Week honors three times this season, and Westbeld earned the accolade twice.
Picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll by the Blue Ribbon Panel, Fortner led Georgia Tech to a third-place regular-season finish. The Yellow Jackets’ No. 3 seed in this week’s ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament is the highest-ever for the program.
Georgia Tech’s 12 conference wins are tied for the most in program history, and the third-place regular-season outright finish is also the highest for the Yellow Jackets.
Cardoso and Cubaj are two of the league’s top defensive forces, as they share Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors. Cardoso headlines the conference with 54 blocks this season, averaging 2.84 per game. Cubaj leads the ACC in rebounds with 11.52 per game and ranks eighth nationally in defensive rebounds per game with 8.8.
Boyd has contributed 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game off the bench for NC State. She scored a career-high 26 points against Georgia Tech and was tabbed ACC Player of the Week following that performance.
Engstler ranks sixth in conference in rebounding with 8.9 per game, despite coming off the bench in every game. She averages 9.6 points per game for Syracuse and has tallied double-digit rebounds in seven games this season with five double-doubles, fifth most in the league.
Lahtinen has played a key role in Georgia Tech’s success this season, as she averaged 9.1 points per game as a sophomore and has taken her game to the next level in her junior year with 14.6 points a game. She scored a career-high 30 points against NC State and is one of just five ACC players to score 30 or more points in a game this season.
Georgia Tech, NC State and Virginia Tech each placed two on the Blue Ribbon Panel’s First Team All-ACC, while the Wolfpack led the way with three on the head coaches first team.
The Blue Ribbon Panel and Head Coaches All-Freshman Teams were identical with Clemson’s Gabby Elliott, Louisville’s Olivia Cochran and Hailey Van Lith, North Carolina’s Deja Kelly, Notre Dame’s Westbeld, Syracuse’s Cardoso, Virginia Tech’s Georgia Amoore and Wake Forest’s Jewel Spear.
The coaches also selected the 2020-21 ACC All-Defensive Team which features Boston College’s Marnelle Garraud, Georgia Tech’s Cubaj, Florida State’s Morgan Jones, Louisville’s Mykasa Robinson and Syracuse’s Cardoso.
2020-21 Blue Ribbon Panel Awards
ACC Player of the Year: Dana Evans, Sr., G, Louisville
ACC Freshman of the Year: Kamilla Cardoso, Fr., C, Syracuse
ACC Coach of the Year: Nell Fortner, Georgia Tech
Blue Ribbon Panel
All-ACC First Team
Lorela Cubaj, Sr., F, Georgia Tech
Lotta-Maj Lahtinen, Jr., G Georgia Tech
Dana Evans, Sr., G, Louisville
Elissa Cunane, Jr., C, NC State
Jakia Brown-Turner, So., W, NC State
Maddy Westbeld, Fr., F, Notre Dame
Kamilla Cardoso, Fr., C, Syracuse
Elizabeth Kitley, So., C, Virginia Tech
Aisha Sheppard, Sr., G Virginia Tech
Ivana Raca, Sr., F, Wake Forest
All-ACC Second Team
Taylor Soule, Jr., F, Boston College
Delicia Washington, Sr., G, Clemson
Morgan Jones, Jr., G, Florida State
Kayla Jones, Sr., F, NC State
Gina Conti, Sr., G Wake Forest
Honorable Mention
Janelle Bailey, Sr., C, North Carolina
Raina Perez, Gr., G, NC State
Jayla Everett, Jr., G, Pitt
Kiara Lewis, Sr., G, Syracuse
Tiana Mangakahia, Gr., G, Syracuse
2020-21 Head Coaches Awards
ACC Player of the Year: Dana Evans, Sr., G, Louisville
ACC Freshman of the Year: Maddy Westbeld, Fr., F, Notre Dame
ACC Coach of the Year: Wes Moore, NC State
ACC Co-Defensive Players of the Year: Lorela Cubaj, Sr., F, Georgia Tech; Kamilla Cardoso, Fr., C, Syracuse
ACC Co-Sixth Players of the Year: Jada Boyd, So., F, NC State; Emily Engstler, Jr., G/F, Syracuse
ACC Most Improved Player: Lotta-Maj Lahtinen, Jr., G, Georgia Tech
Head Coaches Awards
All-ACC First Team
Taylor Soule, Jr., F, Boston College
Morgan Jones, Jr., G, Florida State
Lorela Cubaj, Sr., F, Georgia Tech
Dana Evans, Sr., G, Louisville
Jakia Brown-Turner, So., W, NC State
Elissa Cunane, Jr., C, NC State
Kayla Jones, Sr., F, NC State
Elizabeth Kitley, So., C, Virginia Tech
Aisha Sheppard, Sr., G, Virginia Tech
Ivana Raca, Sr., F, Wake Forest
All-ACC Second Team
Delicia Washington, Sr., G, Clemson
Lotta-Maj Lahtinen, Jr., G, Georgia Tech
Maddy Westbeld, Fr., F, Notre Dame
Kamilla Cardoso, Fr., C, Syracuse
Gina Conti, Sr., G, Wake Forest
Honorable Mention
Janelle Bailey, Sr., C, North Carolina
Jayla Everett, Jr., G, Pitt
Tiana Mangakahia, Gr., G, Syracuse
All-Defensive Team
Marnelle Garraud, Jr., G, Boston College
Lorela Cubaj, Sr., F, Georgia Tech
Morgan Jones, Jr., G, Florida State
Mykasa Robinson, Jr., G, Louisville
Kamilla Cardoso, Fr., C, Syracuse
All-Freshman Team (Blue Ribbon & Head Coaches are the same)
Gabby Elliott, Clemson
Hailey Van Lith, Louisville
Olivia Cochran, Louisville
Deja Kelly, North Carolina
Maddy Westbeld, Notre Dame
Kamilla Cardoso, Syracuse
Georgia Amoore, Virginia Tech
Jewel Spear, Wake Forest