League Announces Winter ‘Team Sportsmanship Award’ Winners
High Point, NC – Conference Carolinas announces the
2011-12 winter sportsmanship award recipients for men’s and
women’s basketball. Teams from Belmont Abbey and Mount Olive
are recognized as demonstrating the best sportsmanship in
Conference Carolinas basketball during the winter season. The
designation was by a vote of member basketball coaches and student
athletes throughout the league.
Women’s Basketball
-Belmont Abbey College: This is the
second consecutive year that the Abbey team receives the
women’s basketball sportsmanship award under the leadership
of head coach Susan Yow. The Crusader team saw their season
come to an end with a valiant 72-58 loss at East Division
top-seeded Barton College in the quarterfinal round of the 2012
Conference Carolinas Tournament. The well-fought season ended with
the team finishing at 8-10 in league play and a 12-16 overall
record.
Men’s Basketball
–Mount Olive College: The
award comes after a very successful season for the Trojans who
finished 21-8 overall & 12-4 in league play. Mount Olive beat
overall No. 1 seeded King before falling to archrival Barton in the
conference championship game in what turned out to be their final
game after the regionally sixth-ranked Trojans were denied a bid to
the NCAA regional. Leading the team to the first ever
sportsmanship team recognition award was Coach Joey Higginbotham a
former Mount Olive College graduate and student-athlete.
The sportsmanship awards are presented annually to the member
institution judged to have exhibited the highest degree of
sportsmanship among its players, coaches, and fans during their
regular playing season. This year marks the second year that there
is an individual sport ‘Team Sportsmanship Award’
highlighting Conference Carolinas efforts to honor institutions
exhibiting sportsmanlike behaviors.
The sportsmanship award is decided using a voting process
implemented by Athletics Directors that calls for a coach and
student-athlete representative to vote together and judge
conference competitors’ sportsmanship. After all the votes
have been submitted the conference office averages the results and
the institution with the highest overall average in a particular
sport is awarded the ‘Team Sportsmanship Award’. These
awards will now correspond with the current “Messick
Sportsmanship Award” that recognizes the school with the
overall best average across all conference sports throughout the
year.
Conference Carolinas is a NCAA Division II athletic
conference made up of 12 teams from North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Tennessee. These institutions consist of: Barton College,
Belmont Abbey College, Coker College, Converse College, Erskine
College, King College, Lees-McRae College, Limestone College, Mount
Olive College, North Greenville University, Pfeiffer University,
and Queens University of Charlotte.