Wykle adds CoSIDA Academic All-District honor
May 6, 2021

Wykle adds CoSIDA Academic All-District honor

AUSTIN, Texas – Adding to a laundry list of laurels as a sophomore, Braelyn Wykle was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) presented by Google Cloud Academic All-District unit announced by the organization on Thursday.

2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams (PDF)

AUSTIN, Texas – Adding to a laundry list of laurels as a sophomore, Braelyn Wykle was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) presented by Google Cloud Academic All-District unit announced by the organization on Thursday.

The Greeneville, Tenn. is the fifth player in program history to earn a slot on an academic roster most recently accomplished by Kayla Marosites, a third-team Academic All-American in 2019-20. Monica Ashburn was an all-district selection in 2003 while Missy Brown and Karen Morton were Academic All-Americans in 1982 and 1986 respectively.

Wykle sports a 3.81 grade-point average majoring in nursing. Out of the 41 Division II players honored by CoSIDA, she is one of five sophomores to be lauded as an academic athlete.

On March 23, the guard was named an honorable mention All-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association. The Greeneville, Tenn. native is the second underclassmen in school history to be named an All-American joining Lisa Stonger, a first-team NAIA All-American, in 1982. Both players were sophomores when they picked up the plaudits.

Overall, Wykle is the 13th All-American in the history of the program having put together a list of impressive honors through the first 49 games of her career. She has secured 14 total honors in her first two years highlighted by becoming the SAC Player of the Year in 2020-21.

Wykle is the fourth player in Carson-Newman history to earn the league's highest honor and the second to not share the moniker. Leah Jackson was the first and only other solo winner taking home the honor in 1992-93. Brooke Johnson in 2004-05 and Haris Price in 2017-18 were tabbed Co-Players of the Year. As a two-time first-team All-SAC selection, she is the seventh player in Lady Eagle history to earn a slot on the top squad multiple times in her career. The Orange and Blue have pulled off the feat in four straight years with Mika Wester, Price and Kayla Marosites getting their second during the stretch.

After finishing the season No. 5 in the country in scoring average, Wykle, tallying 22.7 points per game, reset the school's single-season scoring average record that had stood since the first year of the program when Data Caldwell averaged 22.5 in 1978-79.

On the school's all-time list, the sharpshooter ranked eighth in three-pointers made with 122 for her career. She will enter the 2021-22 campaign needed 63 points to become the 28th member of the program's 1,000-point club.

Wykle's season was a work of art leading the Lady Eagles to a regular-season SAC Championship. Among other national rankings, she is 20th in free throws made (92), 22nd in field goals (147) and 43rd in three-pointers (46). Among SAC players, the point guard ranks second in free-throw percentage (86.0), second in field-goal percentage (47.4), fourth in assists (73), fourth in three-point percentage (39.7), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.66) and eighth in steals per game (1.68).

The Volunteer State native tallied eight 20-point scoring efforts in a row from Jan. 27-Feb. 17, 2021, the most in program history since at least 2002. During the eight-game sequence, she averaged 24.9 points (199 total), shooting 48 percent from the floor (67-for-141), 46 percent from long distance (27-for-59) and 84 percent at the free-throw line (38-for-45). With a 25-point effort at Coker on Feb. 15 and a 27-point night against Mars Hill on Feb. 18, she became the first player since Price did in 2019, 53 games and 744 days prior.

A two-time SAC Player of the Week, she scored in double figures in 18 of the 19 games on the year with 15 efforts of at least 20 points and a career-high 33 at Wingate on Feb. 3 where she went 8-for-16 from the field and six of nine from deep. In the aforementioned win at Coker on Feb. 15, the All-American tallied her first-career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

The Division II Google Cloud Academic All-America program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2019-20 Division II Academic All-America teams.

The district consists of the South Atlantic Conference, Peach Belt and Conference Carolinas. By earning a slot on the all-district team, Wykle is eligible for an All-American nod to be announced in late May with three teams.

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