14 The HBCU Advocate HBCU Sports


A&T’s Kayla White Earns NCAA Woman of The Year Nomination


Volume 2 Number 11


www.thehbcuadvocate.com


NCCU Women’s Basketball Adds WNBA Veteran to Coaching Staff


Photo By Michael Simmons BY NORTH CAROLINA A&T SPORTS INFORMATION EAST GREENSBORO


— North Carolina A&T track and field star Kayla White is one of 585 female college athletes who have been nominated by NCAA member schools for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award. White is also one of six ladies from the Mid-Eastern Athletic


Conference with an


opportunity to be named NCAA Woman of the Year.


White had an incredible year


for N.C. A&T Athletics. She ranked No. 1 in the nation in several events throughout the year and there were times during the season where she was No. 1 in the world. Her ascent began in February when she ran a 22.82 at the Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas to earn the No. 1 time in the world.


She later won the NCAA


indoor national championship in the 200 m with a time of 22.66. White also finished second nationally in the 60-meter hurdles (7.92) missing winning the national championship by a lean. White qualified for the 60 meters as well but did not run the race so that she could concentrate on the other two races.


For her efforts, she was


named NCAA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year to go along with being named Southeast Region Track Athlete of the Year by the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). She also won MEAC indoor titles in the 200 m and the 60mh.


During the outdoor season,


White earned a spot on the Bowerman Watch List, the highest track and field honor in collegiate athletics. White was also named Southeast Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year during outdoor by USTFCCCA. At one point during the outdoor season, White


had the No. 1 time in the nation in the 100 m (10.96) and 200 m (22.52) after running both times at the MEAC outdoor championships at N.C. A&T’s Irwin Belk Track. She won both races along with being one-fourth of the 4×100 meter relay team that took home MEAC gold.


At the NCAA outdoor


nationals, she finished second in the 100 with a personal-best time of 10.95. She placed fifth in the 4×100 and seventh in the 200m.


Established in 1991, the


NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service, and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.


The NCAA encourages


member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.


The nominees competed in


23 different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 262 nominees from Division I, 131 from Division II and 192 from Division III. Multisport student-athletes account for 144 of the nominees.


Next, conferences will select


up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representa- tives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division.


The selection committee will


determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.


BY NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY


DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina Central University third-year head women’s basketball coach Trisha Stafford-Odom has announced the appointment of WNBA player and local collegiate standout Erlana Larkins as an assistant coach for the upcoming 2019-20 season.


her ninth year in the Women’s National Basketball


Larkins, who just concluded Association,


returns to The Triangle after playing collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She will be working primarily with NCCU’s post players.


to welcome Erlana to this world of collegiate


“It gives me great pleasure coaching and


shaping of basketball minds,” said Stafford-Odom. “She is a seasoned and highly-regarded basketball intellect, eager to unload loads of wisdom on our impressionable players. Her meticulous and physically demanding approach to hard work is inspiring. Each of her past levels of success rival the pristine work ethic and discipline I expect of my team. Erlana has a strong mind for the intricacies of the game. I am excited about her presence and confident she will infuse her knowledge in a manner that adds to the success of our interior play.”


Larkins played six seasons


with the Indiana Fever and became a WNBA champion in 2012. Larkins also made the Finals in 2015 and participated in the playoffs a total of six years between her tenure with three teams that included the Fever, New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx.


In her best season as a


pro, the 6-1 forward averaged a career-best 9.7 points per game


on 59.9-percent shooting and a career-high 9.7 rebounds per game in 2014 with the Fever. She led the league with a 59.9-percent clip as well as ranking third in the WNBA with 1.94 steals per game and was fourth in rebounding. Larkins’ 14 double-figure rebounding games were the most in a single-season in Indiana history. Her 303 total rebounds were also a Fever franchise record.


As a pro, Larkins has played


in 247 career regular season games in the WNBA and averaged 5.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Her 55.7% career field goal percentage is ranked fifth best in WNBA history. She has also played in 37 WNBA postseason contests.


Larkins becomes the third


coach on the NCCU women’s basketball staff who has played in the WNBA, joining Stafford-Odom and third-year assistant Tynesha Lewis.


The West Palm Beach,


Florida, native was a four-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament champion for the Tar Heels. Larkins was selected All-ACC all four years and was a State Farm and USBWA All-America honoree as a senior in 2008, leading Carolina to the Elite Eight. She finished her collegiate playing career averaging 13.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.8 blocks per game for the Tar Heels. She finished just shy of 2,000 points (1,927) while tallying over 1,000 rebounds (1,173) and making over half of her shot attempts (56.7%).


Larkins was drafted by New


York in the first round of the 2008 WNBA Draft. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from UNC in African and Afro-American Studies.


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