The South Atlantic Conference has announced that two members of the Tusculum College Women's basketball team have received postseason honors from the league.

Senior guard Shynese Whitener was named first-team All-Conference while forward Kasey Johnson was selected to the All-Freshman team in voting conducted by the conference's 12 head coaches. Together, they helped the Pioneers finish with a 13-12 overall record and tied for eighth place in the conference with an 11-11 league mark under first-year head coach Devan Carter, who guided Tusculum to its most conference wins in a season since 2011-12.

Whitener is the first Pioneer to earn first-team All-Conference honors since Jasmine Gunn was a four-time honoree from 2007-08 through 2010-11. She was honored as the SAC statistical champion after leading the conference in scoring average (18.1 ppg) and steals (3.16 per game), and also led the conference in minutes played (38.3 per game), while ranking seventh in free-throw percentage (79.4 percent) and eighth in assists per game (3.2). Whitener also averaged 5.2 rebounds per game and connected on 18 three-pointers to rank third on the team in each category.

The Newton, North Carolina native scored in double figures in 23 of the Pioneers' 25 games, including 11 performances of 20 or more points. Early in the season, Whitener became the first Pioneer in six years to score at least 20 points in five consecutive games. She also had at least one steal in 23 of the Pioneers' 25 games, including five games of at least six thefts. Whitener played every minute in 13 games this season, including a career-high 45 minutes in an 82-73 overtime win over Wingate on Jan. 30., and had two separate stretches in which she played three consecutive games without leaving the court for a substitute.

Whitener ended her Tusculum career with 1,221 points, which ranks her 13th on the program's all-time scoring list. Her 214 career steals are tied for fourth in the Tusculum record book, while her 480 career field goals (9th), 1,215 field goal attempts (6th), 287 assists (9th) and .787 free throw percentage (9th) are all ranked in the Tusculum top 10.

Selected to the first team along with Whitener were SAC Player of the Year Jennifer Monroe of Anderson, Ansley Ricker of Mars Hill, Megan Pittman of Lincoln Memorial, Samantha Creed of Newberry and Bri Johnson of Catawba.

Johnson, who is the first Pioneer to be selected All-Freshman since Kendal Baxter in 2009-10, ranked second on the team to Whitener with an average of 11.8 points per game, and was third in the conference in field-goal percentage at 51.5 percent (121-for-235). She was 11th in league and second in the conference in rebounding at 6.8 per game, while registering four double-doubles. The Greensboro, North Carolina native scored a season-high 24 points in a 62-44 win over Coker on Feb. 13, and pulled a season-biest 13 rebounds in a 71-57 victory at Brevard on Jan. 27. Johnson also had 22 points at Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 6, and reached double figures in scoring in 15 of the Pioneers' final 17 games.

Joining Johnson on the All-Freshman team were Freshman of the Year Meg Essex of Newberry, along with Danasia Witherspoon of Wingate, Courtney Robinson of Wingate and Kayla Newman of Carson-Newman. The conference Coach of the Year was Sarah Jansen of Mars Hill, who guided the Lions to a 15-13 record and fourth place in the league at 14-8.