McMillan Earns Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Conference Honors
10/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 7, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - One of only three players in the A-Sun to finish in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding in 2008-09, junior Chelsea McMillan (Quincy, Fla./Santa Fe (Fla.) C.C.) has landed a spot on the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Conference team, the conference office announced on Wednesday afternoon. McMillan and the Spartans were selected to finish eighth in the league in the Preseason Coaches' Poll and 10th in the Preseason Media Poll. FGCU was selected to repeat as the league champion and ETSU as the tournament champions in both polls and ETSU's Siarre Evans was selected the preseason player of the year.
McMillan finished 10th in the A-Sun in scoring (12.2) and third in rebounding (7.8) per game as a sophomore. A tough player with a sweet touch, McMillan hit 44 percent of her shots from the field and 83 percent (second in the A-Sun) from the charity stripe as a sophomore and will be counted on to increase her playing time (21.8 minutes per game) as a sophomore. McMillan was also a force inside, finishing third in the A-Sun with an average of 1.50 blocked shots per game.
"Chelsea is absolutely deserving of her placement on the preseason all-conference team," Upstate head coach Tammy George said. "She can do so many positive things on the court. She is the type of player that can carry us offensively and can help us make stops on defense. She is tough and focused and if her playing time increases this year, we really feel the sky is the limit for Chelsea."
McMillan is the second player in school history to earn Preseason All-A-Sun honors, joining Hawkins, who was a part of the 2008-09 Preseason All-A-Sun team.
McMillan is one of three starters back for Upstate, who finished 13-16 overall and 8-12 in the A-Sun in 2008-09. The Spartans return their top six scorers, including three who finished in the top 20 in the A-Sun in scoring. Sophomore Kendra Wallace (Hurricane, W.Va./Nitro) finished 11th in the conference, leading all conference freshmen, with an average of 12.0 points per game and senior Courtney Hawkins (Greer, S.C./Greer) finished 16th in the A-Sun with an average of 11.2 points per game.
Upstate finished its second season of Division I play one of the most improved teams in the nation, as the Spartans' eight-win improvement was the 20th-best in the nation. The team also made a 79-team jump in the final RPI, which put them in the top 10 percent of all Division I teams in most improved RPI.
2009 Atlantic Sun Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll School (First Place) Votes 1 FGCU (6) 112 2 ETSU (4) 111 3 Belmont (1) 97 4 Jacksonville 71 5 Mercer 66 6 Kennesaw State 63 7 Stetson 58 8 USC Upstate 44 9 UNF 40 10 Lipscomb 35 11 Campbell 29 Tournament Champion: ETSUPreseason Media Poll School (First Place) Votes 1 FGCU (9) 199 2 ETSU (8) 194 3 Belmont 158 4 Jacksonville 142 5 Mercer 120 6 Stetson 119 8 Kennesaw State 112 7 UNF 63 9 Campbell 61 10 USC Upstate 60 11 Lipscomb 57 Tournament Champion: ETSU
2008 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos Name (Class), School F Latisha Belcher (Sr.), ETSU *F/G Siarre Evans (Sr.), ETSU G Courtney Jackson (Sr.), Jacksonville G Latoya Jackson (Sr.), Mercer G Greteya Kelley (Sr.), Kennesaw State F Chelsea Lyles (Sr.), FGCU F Chelsea McMillan (Jr.), USC Upstate *F Adrianne McNally (Sr.), FGCU *G Amber Rockwell (Sr.), Belmont F/G TaRonda Wiles (Sr.), ETSU * - Unanimous selection
Preseason Player of the Year: Siarre Evans, ETSU
