ACC Women’s Basketball Announces 2022-23 Award Winners
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Virginia Tech senior center Elizabeth Kitley has been chosen as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey is the ACC Coach of the Year, highlighting the 2022-23 All-ACC Women’s Basketball Team and award winners.
The 2022-23 All-ACC Team was determined by the league’s head coaches and Blue Ribbon Panel.
Florida State earned two season awards, as freshman guard Ta’Niya Latson was named the ACC Rookie of the Year, while sophomore forward Makayla Timpson earned ACC Most Improved Player honors. Duke’s Celeste Taylor received ACC Defensive Player of the Year laurels, while NC State’s Saniya Rivers was tabbed ACC Sixth Player of the Year.
Kitley becomes the third-straight two-time winner of the ACC Player of the Year award after Louisville’s AD Durr and Dana Evans won back-to-back through 2018-2021. Kitley is the only ACC player to average a double-double this season, as she ranks fourth in the conference with 18.8 points per game and a league-best 10.7 rebounds per contest. The Summerfield, North Carolina, native has posted a conference-best 18 double-doubles this season, including each of her last four games to help Virginia Tech seal a double bye in this week’s Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament. Kitley won ACC Player of the Week four times this season, the most of any player.
Latson is the first Seminole to claim ACC Rookie of the Year honors. The Miami native leads the ACC in points per game (21.3) and looks to become the first ACC freshman to average more than 20 points per game since Wake Forest’s Tracy Connor (20.6) in 1993. Earlier this season, Latson became the first ACC player ever to sweep the conference’s weekly honors in back-to-back weeks. The guard is responsible for seven of the ACC’s 13 30-point performances this season. She scored a season-high 34 points twice during the regular season and set a personal conference-high mark of 32 against Georgia Tech on Jan. 1. Latson won the ACC Rookie of the Week award a league-record 10 times this campaign.
Taylor closed the regular season with 58 steals on a Duke team that leads the ACC and ranks third nationally in scoring defense at 50.9 points per game. The Valley Stream, New York, native recorded six games with four or more steals, including a six-steal effort in a win over Oregon State on Nov. 27. Taylor was tabbed as one of 10 semifinalists for the 2023 Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year award. The guard is the first Blue Devil to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors since Lexie Brown in 2018.
Ivey becomes the first Notre Dame coach since Muffet McGraw in 2016 to win ACC Coach of the Year. Ivey led the Fighting Irish to a 15-3 conference record and the program’s first ACC regular-season title since 2019. Notre Dame enters the postseason with 24 wins and has been ranked in the top 10 throughout the season.
Rivers ended the regular season averaging 8.5 points and 1.9 steals, which ranks ninth in the ACC. The Wilmington, North Carolina, native scored a season-high 22 points in a key nonconference victory at Iowa in early December. Against conference opponents, Rivers averages 2.2 steals per contest to rank fourth in the ACC. Rivers joins Diamond Johnson (2022) and Bonae Holston (2009) as NC State players to receive Sixth Player of the Year honors.
Timpson averaged 13.4 points per contest and ranks 19th nationally in blocks per game at a 2.16 clip, bettering last season’s averages of 6.6 points and 1.0 blocks. The Edison, Georgia, native has posted 25 double-figure scoring games this season, including a career-high 25 points in a win over Miami on Dec. 21. Timpson is the first Seminole to win the Most Improved award since its inception in 2019.
The bracket is set for the 46th annual Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, which runs Wednesday (March 1) through Sunday (March 5) at Greensboro Coliseum. Tournament play begins at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with first-round action on ACC Network and will conclude with Sunday’s Championship game at 1 p.m. on ESPN.
2022-23 All-ACC Women’s Basketball Team
Player of the Year: Elizabeth Kitley(Northwest Guilford HS), Sr., C, Virginia Tech
Defensive Player of the Year: Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke
Rookie of the Year: Ta’Niya Latson, G, Florida State
Coach of the Year: Niele Ivey, Notre Dame
Sixth Player of the Year: Saniya Rivers, So., G, NC State
Most Improved Player: Makayla Timpson, So., F, Florida State
All-ACC First Team
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech 1447 points
Olivia Miles, So., G, Notre Dame 1385
Ta’Niya Latson, Fr., G, Florida State 1304
Hailey Van Lith, Jr., G, Louisville 1156
Georgia Amoore, Jr., G, Virginia Tech 1083
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse 1060
Deja Kelly, Jr., G, North Carolina 1037
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke 898
Sonia Citron, So., G, Notre Dame 878
Alyssa Ustby, Jr., G, North Carolina 710
All-ACC Second Team
Makayla Timpson, So., F, Florida State 700
Jewel Spear, Jr., G, Wake Forest 676
Diamond Johnson, So., G, NC State 394
Haley Cavinder, Sr., G, Miami 364
Destiny Harden, Gr., F, Miami 326
Amari Robinson, Sr., F, Clemson 310
Camryn Taylor, Sr., F, Virginia 292
Maddy Westbeld, Jr., F, Notre Dame 285
Kennedy Todd-Williams, Jr., G, North Carolina 279
Taylor Soule, Gr., F, Virginia Tech 220
All-Defensive Team
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke 227
Mykasa Robinson, Gr., G, Louisville 195
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech 163
Makayla Timpson, So., F, Florida State 153
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse 81
All-Freshman Team
Ta’Niya Latson, G, Florida State 374
Taina Mair, G, Boston College 251
Tonie Morgan, G, Georgia Tech 162
Ruby Whitehorn, G, Clemson 120
KK Bransford, G, Notre Dame 82
ACC Most Improved
Makayla Timpson, Florida State 292
Dontavia Waggoner, Boston College 160
Camryn Taylor, Virginia 86
ACC Sixth Player
Saniya Rivers, NC State 226
Lauren Ebo, Notre Dame 211
D’asia Gregg, Virginia Tech 119
ACC Coach of the Year
Niele Ivey, Notre Dame 211
Kara Lawson, Duke 142
Kenny Brooks, Virginia Tech 137