Minneapolis, Minn. – Head Women's Basketball Coach Chuck Winkelman and junior forward/center Shante Morton were honored on Tuesday afternoon as they earned accolades from the D3hoops.com All-Region Team. Winkelman was named the South's Coach of the Year while Morton picked up Second Team South Region Honors.
Winkelman, who picked up his 200th win of his collegiate career earlier this season against Rust College, was named the South Region's Coach of the Year after leading Millsaps to a 22-6 record and the Championship Game of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference where they fell to Centre.
In his second season as the Head Coach, Winkelman inherited a team that was 1-24 two years ago and brought them to 12 wins in his rookie season (where he was named Co-SCAC Coach of the Year) before leading the Majors to their first 20 win season since 1995-96. His team also broke a school record for consecutive wins as they went on a 15-game winning streak throughout the regular season. Winkelman becomes only the second SCAC Coach to receive this honor, the last one to receive it since Ron Sattelle of Oglethorpe in 2008-09.
One of his biggest reasons for the turnaround was the play of his junior forward/center Shante Morton. Morton set a school record with 16 double-doubles in a single season including a 10 game streak of double-doubles. Morton led the team, averaging 14.7 points/game (10th in SCAC) and added 10.3 rebounds/game (3rd in SCAC).
Morton also became the ninth Major to eclipse 1,000 points in a career earlier this season against Southwestern. She was terrific in the SCAC Tournament as she averaged 19.7 points a game and 13.7 rebounds/game while shooting 49% for the entire tournament. As the Majors enter the Southern Athletic Association next season, Morton will be the active leader in points (1,124) and rebounds (669) as she also eyes the Millsaps All-Time Leader in both categories.
Morton becomes the third Major in the history of the program to be named to the All-South Regional Team. The last two to earn this honor was Carla Webb (1st Team) and Kim Weaver in 1996.
Four other players from the SCAC also earned All-Region honors in Centre's guard Maggie Prewitt (1st Team; Player of the Year), sophomore guard Murphy Burns (2nd Team), senior guard Sharwil Bell (3rd Team), and senior forward Becky Luetjen (3rd Team Western).
Players were nominated for these awards by the Sports Information Directors at the various schools, who were contacted multiple times as the season wound down to remind them to make their players eligible. There were 683 players nominated nationwide, a new high. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region.
Regions that have fewer than 40 Division III teams have two teams. The Northeast, which is nearly twice that size, has four teams, while all other regions have three teams.
