SUWANEE, Ga. - Sharwil Bell of
Rhodes College and Abigail Loar of Trinity University have been
nominated by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference for the
22nd annual NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors graduating student-athletes
who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate
careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence,
community service and leadership.
Bell is the first student-athlete from Rhodes College to earn the
SCAC Woman-of-the-Year honor. A Biology Major with a Business Minor
and the owner of a 3.94 grade-point average, she received the NCAA
Postgraduate Scholarship and was a finalist for the 2012
Josten’s Trophy – an award given annually to one male
and one female Division III basketball student-athlete who excels
in the classroom, on the court and in the community.
A native of Memphis, Tenn., Bell was a two-time First Team
All-SCAC performer her last two seasons in the conference and was
selected Third Team in 2009-10 when she was also recognized as the
league’s Newcomer-of-the-Year.
A Capital One Academic All-America® Women's Basketball First
Team selection, Bell averaged 15.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.2
steals per game during the 2011-12 season and shot 43.3 percent
from the field. She led the Lynx to an 18-8 overall mark in
2011-12, which tied the school record for single-season wins.
Bell, who transferred to Rhodes from Elon, ended her three-year
career run with the Lynx with 1,247 points (sixth in school
history) and 574 rebounds and was voted team MVP all three seasons.
Most recently, she was named the recipient of the Rebecca Rish Gay
award – signifying the top women’s senior athlete at
Rhodes College.
In addition to her successes on the court and her studies in the
classroom, Bell filled her little spare time with various campus
and community service activities. She served as Vice President of
the Mortar Board National Honor Society as well as Secretary and
Vice President of Rhodes’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
and has been a campus Peer Mentor for Serving Our Students since
2010. Away from campus, Bell has worked as a Physical Therapy
Shadow at both Methodist University Hospital and the Campbell
Clinic for Orthopedics.
"Sharwil has been the premier student-athlete on our campus
for three years," said Rhodes head women's basketball coach
Matt Dean. "Besides being a tremendous player, she became the
best leader I have ever coached. In my opinion she is the finest
student-athlete in all of NCAA intercollegiate athletics. It has
been a pleasure to coach her these last three years."
Loar, an Anthropology and Environmental Sciences major from
Littleton, Colo., was the recipient of the Margaret Mead Award,
given to the top senior in the Anthropology major at Trinity, as
well as the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. The owner of
a 3.79 grade-point average, Loar was also the recipient of the
Murchison Research Scholarship for Biology at Trinity and presented
her findings this past April at the Experimental Biology Annual
Conference in San Diego.
On the soccer fields Loar was equally impressive. She earned
All-America honors each of the past two seasons, and was named the
SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year for the second consecutive season
in 2011. She led Trinity to a 22-1 record last fall, advancing to
the third round of the NCAA Playoffs.
Loar was named the D3soccer.com National Forward of the Year in
2011, and was named an All-American by both D3soccer.com and the
National Soccer Coaches Association of America. She also earned
NSCAA Scholar All-America honors each of the past two seasons.
With 21 goals this past season, Loar broke Trinity's school record
for career points and career goals scored, and improved to third in
school history in career assists. She is the only Tiger player in
history to score 15 or more goals in three different seasons (2009,
2010, 2011), and is just the fourth to score 20 or more goals and
50 or more points in one year.
Loar is the second women's soccer player in the past two seasons to
earn the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship (Danika Wright, 2010-11),
and is the fourth Trinity student-athlete to earn the award since
the start of the 2010-11 season.
In addition to her athletic and academic success, Loar also found
time for other campus and community service activities. This year,
she played a vital role with an HIV/Syphilis Task Force where she
served as the Epidemiological Data Survey creator, implementer and
analyst. Loar also volunteered with Project Cure, helping to sort
donated medical supplies so that they could be shipped to
developing world clinics, and with Two Degrees where she served as
co-representative in San Antonio for a project that endorsed food
sources to developing countries through the sales of domestic
nutrition bars.
“Abby has been a tremendous ambassador for our institution,
our program, our team, sport, her peer students and
athletes,” said Trinity head women’s soccer coach Lance
Key. “I have been greatly blessed to have had the opportunity
to learn from Abby throughout her time at Trinity. She is a
first-rate citizen and member of our family, an incredibly driven
and motivated student, and an exceptional athlete. She epitomizes
the individual we all wish to surround ourselves with, whether
we're trying to win games, wars, or prizes. Abby is simply a winner
on many levels, and I very much look forward to watching her cut
her path towards a very bright future.”
Loar and Bell were two of seven outstanding nominees considered by
the SCAC Woman of the Year Committee. The other candidates
were:
- Sarah Ayers, swimming, Southwestern University
- Colleen Maggard, swimming, Centre College
- Allison Mosley, soccer/track & field, Hendrix College
- Eliza Newland, soccer, Oglethorpe University
- Amy Schornack, volleyball, Colorado College
As SCAC co-winners, Loar and Bell will both be nominated for the
NCAA Woman of the Year award, one of the most prestigious honors
the NCAA bestows. The award recognizes senior student-athletes who
have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers
in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service
and leadership.
All conference nominees will be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the
Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the
top 10 nominees in each division. From among those 30 honorees, the
selection committee will determine the top three in each division.
Finally, the members of the NCAA Committee on Women’s
Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to
determine the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The top 10 honorees and the nine finalists from Divisions I, II and
III will be honored and the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year
winner will be announced at a dinner in Indianapolis, on October
14, 2012.
Last year, Trinity University all-America diver Hayley Emerick
became the first SCAC Woman of the Year honoree chosen as one of
the nine finalists for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
In conjunction with the changes in the nomination process for the
NCAA Woman of the Year award, the Southern Collegiate Athletic
Conference Woman of the Year award was established for the 2005-06
athletic season. Beginning in 2006, the NCAA Committee on
Women’s Athletics (CWA) started receiving
conference-designated nominees in lieu of the previous institution-
and state-based nomination format.
From 1991 to 2005, each state had a woman of the year honoree and
from that group 10 finalists were selected. From the top-10
finalists, the national winner was then chosen. Since 2006, each
conference and independent school forwards nominations to the
NCAA.
To read about past winners of the SCAC Woman-of-the-Year award,
click here.
