IRVING, Texas - Redshirt junior Kendall Noble and sophomore Tashia Brown have received First Team All-Conference USA honors as announced by the conference office Sunday afternoon. Noble also collected a nod for All-Defensive Team honors following her strong season.
The C-USA honors are voted on by the league's head coaches and a media representative from each school. Individual awards, including Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, will be released at 10:00 a.m. (CT) Monday morning.
With two First Team honorees, WKU becomes the first school in C-USA history to have multiple First Teamers in back-to-back seasons after Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan earned the honors in 2014-15. The Lady Toppers have also had multiple First Teamers in three of Michelle Clark-Heard's four seasons at the helm of the program dating back to the team's tenure in the Sun Belt.
Noble's First Team nod is the first of her career after earning Second Team honors from the Sun Belt and C-USA in each of the last two seasons. The Hazard, Ky., native also repeated as an All-Defensive Team honoree for C-USA.
One of the top candidates for both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, Noble is seeking to make WKU the first team in C-USA history to win back-to-back Player of the Year awards with two different players. Should she repeat as Defensive Player of the Year, she would be the first to do so in the conference since Tulsa's Jillian Robbins won the award in 2006 and 2007.
A Third Team Academic All-American, 2015 GCI Great Alaska Shootout MVP and three-time C-USA Player of the Week, Noble leads the Lady Toppers in scoring with 17.8 points and ranks second on the team with 7.6 rebounds. The redshirt junior has also collected 150 assists, 77 steals and 26 blocks and is the only player in C-USA who ranks in the top 10 in all five categories this season. In addition, Noble leads the league in usage at 37.2 minutes per game in 2015-16.
After being a C-USA All-Freshman Team selection last season, Tashia Brown took huge steps forward as one of the most improved sophomores in the conference in 2015-16. Brown's scoring improved nearly nine points per game (17.4 points) as her shooting numbers went up across the board. The Lake Park, Ga., native finished the regular season with 10 20-point games, including a career-best 34-point outburst to secure WKU's 85-74 overtime win at Old Dominion on Feb. 18.
WKU (24-5, 15-3 C-USA) enters the 2016 C-USA Tournament as the No. 3 seed and is set to open play on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. (CT) after receiving a double bye in the quarterfinals. The Lady Toppers will open against No. 6 seed Marshall, No. 11 seed UTSA or No. 14 seed FIU and could face a potential rematch against archrival Middle Tennessee in the semifinals after splitting the regular season series.
Tickets can be purchased for the 2016 C-USA Tournament through the WKU Ticket Office, which can be reached online at WKUTickets.com or by phone a 1-800-5-BIGRED or 745-5222 locally.
2015-16 All-C-USA First Team
Brandi Wingate, Louisiana Tech
Leah Scott, Marshall
Brea Edwards, Middle Tennessee
Jennie Simms, Old Dominion
Cameasha Turner, UTEP
Jenzel Nash, UTEP
Tashia Brown, WKU
Kendall Noble, WKU
2015-16 All-C-USA Second Team
Lefty Webster, Charlotte
Alexis Alexander, Charlotte
Ali Gorrell, Florida Atlantic
Ty Petty, Middle Tennessee
Caitlin Jenkins, Southern Miss
Brittany Winborne, UAB
Chelsee Black, UAB
Starr Breedlove, UTEP
2015-16 C-USA All-Freshman Team
Laia Raventos, Charlotte
Grace Hunter, Charlotte
Alex Johnson, Middle Tennessee
Caitlin Jenkins, Southern Miss
Deanna Kuzmanic, UAB
2015-16 C-USA All-Defensive Team
Kelsey Criner, North Texas
Caitlin Jenkins, Southern Miss
Starr Breedlove, UTEP
Cameasha Turner, UTEP
Kendall Noble, WKU
