CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the third consecutive season, Liberty University’s Megan Frazee (Xenia, Ohio) has been voted the Big South Conference Preseason Women’s Basketball Player of the Year by the League’s Head Coaches and media panel, it was announced today at the Conference’s 2008-09 Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon at the Embassy Suites hotel in Concord, N.C.  The senior forward is the Conference’s reigning Women’s Basketball Player of the Year.

Frazee earned First-team All-Conference honors and Big South All-Tournament MVP accolades last season after ranking first in the League in scoring (18.6) and free throw percentage (.878 – 10th nationally), and second in rebounding (9.5).  Recognized as the Richmond Times-Dispatch State of Virginia Player of the Year, Frazee was one of eight players in the nation last year to average more than 18.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.  She also had a League-best 14 double-doubles last season and ranked in the League’s top 10 in assists per game and blocks per game.  In League games, Frazee averaged 20.2 points, 10.9 rebounds, .530 percent from the floor and .881 percent from the free throw line.  She was MVP of both the National City Xavier Invitational and the UNLV Lady Rebel Christmas Classic, and was an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American Second-Team selection.  Frazee, who also was voted the 2007-08 Big South Female Student-Athlete of the Year, received 16 first-place votes and finished with 80 points in the preseason balloting to earn a spot on the preseason All-Conference team.  She enters her senior season needing 613 points to become the fourth player in Big South history with 2,000 career points and 296 rebounds to become the fourth player in League annals with 1,000 career rebounds.

2008-09 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team

Megan Frazee, Liberty - Sr., F, 6-3 (Xenia, Ohio)
Ashley Fann, Winthrop - Sr., F, 6-0 (Hazel Green, Ala.)
Moriah Frazee, Liberty - Sr., F, 6-3 (Xenia, Ohio)
Pamela Tolbert, Charleston Southern - Sr., F, 5-8 (Powder Springs, Ga.)
Johnette Walker, Radford - Sr., G, 5-8 (Columbia, S.C.)

Fann, who received three first-place votes and 55 points in the voting, earned First-Team All-Conference honors last year in helping the Eagles advance to the Semifinals of the Big South Tournament for the third-straight season.  She averaged a career-high 13.7 points to rank third in the Conference, and added 6.8 rebounds, 58 assists and 35 steals.  Fann tallied 20 points in a game seven times last year, and increased her scoring and rebounding averages in League games to 15.8 and 7.0, respectively.  She also made .503 percent of her field goals in Big South games.  Fann became just the fourth player in Winthrop history to reach 1,000 career points as a junior, and ranks 36th all-time in Big South history with 1,178 points and 32nd with 625 rebounds.

Moriah Frazee enjoyed a breakout season in 2007-08 where she earned First-Team All-Conference honors after averaging 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and a League-leading .581 field goal percentage for the Lady Flames.  She entered her junior season last year with career averages of just 7.7 points and 4.9 rebounds.  Frazee was a Second-Team VaSID All-State selection and was an All-Tournament team honoree at both the National City Xavier Invitational and the UNLV Lady Rebel Christmas Classic.  In 2007-08, Frazee ranked fifth in the Big South in scoring, sixth in free throw percentage (.734), tied for sixth in blocked shots (0.9) and was ninth in rebounding.  In League games, Frazee averaged 13.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and a .643 field goal clip.  She enters her senior season needing 176 points for 1,000 and 53 rebounds for 500 in her career.

Tolbert also garnered First-Team All-Conference accolades last season, leading the Lady Buccaneers with 16.7 points (second in the Big South) and hitting a League-leading 73 three-point field goals.  She also ranked fifth in assists per game (3.2), was fourth in the League in steals (2.03) and was sixth in three-point percentage (.336).  Tolbert was second in three-pointers per game (2.43) and became the 10th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in her career.  She ranks 45th in Big South history with 1,129 career points (eighth all-time at Charleston Southern) and is CSU’s all-time leader in three-point field goals with 151.

Walker was a Second-Team All-Conference selection in 2007-08 after ranking among the Big South leaders in several statistical categories.  She was tops in the League in steals with 106 and 3.03 per game, was first with 162 assists and second with 4.63 assists per game, and was second in free throw percentage at .804 percent.  Walker averaged 11.2 points to rank 11th and grabbed 4.7 rebounds a game to rank 15th in the League.  In Big South games, she averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds for the Highlanders.  She had three 20-point games, scored in double-figures 21 times and had 22 games with at least four assists and three steals.