NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University junior forward Shae Kelley was named to the 2014 VaSID All-State First Team, along with JMU senior Kirby Buckholder, VCU’s senior Robyn Parks, ECU’s senior Alyssa Bennett and Virginia Tech’s senior Uju Ugoka.
James Madison University guard Kirby Burkholder was selected as Player of the Year, JMU head coach Kenny Brooks has been named the Coach of the Year, while Hampton University guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas was picked as the Rookie of the Year in the annual voting by the Virginia Sports Information Directors Association (VaSID) for the 2014 University Division All-State Women’s Basketball Team.
Making the second team were freshman Ashley Rininger from Liberty, George Mason’s sophomore Taylor Brown, senior Rachel Gordon of Norfolk State, James Madison’s senior Nikki Newman, University of Virginia’s senior Ataira Franklin, junior Toia Giggetts from JMU and freshman Malia Tate-DeFreitas from Hampton University.
Kelley was also named to the first team All-C-USA squad as she averaged 17.8 points and 9.7 rebounds per game this season. The co-captain led the team in total points (605), rebounding (331), field-goals made (225), free-throws made (151), blocked shots (42), steals (61), starts (34), minutes per game (33.6). She had 17 double-doubles this season, which ranked No. 17 nationally.
On March 20, Shae Kelley joined an elite class, becoming just the fifth Lady Monarch to score 1,000 career points in just her first two seasons at ODU. The only other four players to record 1,000-plus points throughout their first two seasons in a Lady Monarch uniform were: Anne Donovan, Inge Nissen, Nancy Lieberman and Clarisse Machanguana.
She scored a career high 30 points at Rice, which made for the third time this past season that she did so. Her three-pointer with 23 seconds left in regulation and 17 rebounds against Marshall sent the game into overtime and ODU went on to win the game, giving head coach Karen Barefoot her 250th career win
Shae’s 2.03 steals per contest ranked fifth in the conference, while her 7.1 defensive rebounds per game ranked No. 2 in the conference. Shae averages over one block per game, which was good for No. 11 in the C-USA. Earlier this season, Shae was named MVP of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tournament.