Kaylee Edgemon became the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens' first-ever four-time NAIA All-American, and NAIA assists champion
Jenna Cooper garnered her second such honor when the NAIA released its 2021-22 NAIA Women's Basketball All-Americans today. Edgemon was named to the First Team for the second consecutive season while Cooper was voted to the Second Team.
Wayland was one of five teams with multiple players on first, second or third teams, along with Westmont (Calif.), Providence (Mont.), Central Methodist (Mo.) and Morningside (Iowa). Westmont was the only team to have two first-team players. Providence had two players awarded second-team honors. Wayland Baptist had a player awarded first team and the other second team. Morningside had a player awarded first team and the other third team. Central Methodist had a player on first team and an honorable mention. Carroll (Mont.) boasted three players honored, one on the second team and the other two honorable mentions.
Edgemon was the fourth three-time NAIA All-American for the Flying Queens along with the program's top three all-time scorers, Sharla Harrison (1987-89), Hazel Taylor (1997-99) and Carmen Wynn (1985-87). Harrison, the program's all-time scoring leader with 2,461 points, was a Second Team pick once and a First Team choice twice. Taylor, who scored 2,446 points, was a three-time First Teamer while Wynn, who scored 2,310 points, was a two-time First Teamer and one-time Third Teamer.
Â
NAIA Release
Edgemon, who was honorable mention her first two seasons at WBU, finished her career with 1,856 points, which is sixth in Flying Queens' history.
The Flying Queens' program boast two AAU All-Americans: Lometa Odom (1953-56), who is ninth in all-time scoring with 1,614 points, and Susan Britton (1969-72; one-time honorable mention), who had 1,067 points.
A 5-foot-11 graduate student from Littlefield, Edgemon this season repeated as Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year, three years after being named SAC Newcomer of the year after transferring from Eastern New Mexico University where she was the Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year. (Players were granted an extra season of eligibility due to the reduced 2020-21 schedule brought on by COVID-19.)
Edgemon recently was named CoSIDA Academic Second Team All-American and last season was the SAC Women's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year and an NAIA Scholar-Athlete. She led the eighth-ranked Flying Queens (33-4) in scoring at 19.6 points per game, which ranked 16
th in the NAIA, while her 685 points ranked fourth and 287 field goals ranked second. She scored in double-figures in all but two games the last two seasons and had 10 career double-doubles.
Edgemon earned a bachelor of science degree in interdisciplinary studies and plans to become a teacher.
Cooper, a 6-foot junior forward from Claude, became a two-time NAIA All-American two seasons after she was an honorable mention selection in 2019-20. She has earned all-conference honors all three of her seasons at Wayland, including First Team recognition the last two seasons. An NAIA Scholar-Athlete, she was SAC Newcomer of the Year in 2019-20.
This season, Cooper led the NAIA in total assists with 207 (5.9 per game). She was second on the team in scoring (18.0 ppg), having reached double-figures in all but one game, and third in rebounds (6.9) and steals (1.2). Cooper's 75 3-pointers were one short of the program record, and she also led the team in free throw percentage at 87.2 percent (102-of-117), which was 18
th in the NAIA. She recorded a triple-double (11-11-11) on Dec. 7 against Panhandle State and had two double-doubles.
With one season of eligibility remaining, Cooper has 1,264 points, which is 21
st in Flying Queens history.
Besides Edgemon and Cooper, other SAC players earning NAIA All-American honors were Asheika Alexander of Langston on the Third Team and Honorable Mention picks Thamires Andrade of Southwestern Christian, Kertisa Amos of Texas Wesleyan, Lexi Hernandez of Mid-America Christian, Abby Selzer of Oklahoma City and Zaria Dorsey of Science & Arts of Oklahoma.
All of the selections were made by the All-America Committee and are comprised of first, second, third and honorable mention teams. There are 12 members on each of the first three All-America teams.
Stephanie Soares of The Master's (Calif.) was named the 2022 NAIA National Player of the Year and Jeff Hans of Thomas More (Ky.) was named the 2022 NAIA National Coach of the Year.Â
Soares made a lasting mark during the 2022 season as Player of the Year as she led the nation in blocks with 126 blocks on the season. She was also second in the nation in total rebounds after pulling down 415 on the season. Soares set single-game season-highs of 14 points three times. Each time she hit the 14-point mark she posted a field goal percentage of 73-75%. She was also awarded the Co-Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) player of the year. This is the second time that Soares has won the award after being named player of the year in 2020. This is the third consecutive year that a GSAC player has won the national award.Â
Coach Jeff Hans of Thomas More (Ky.), in his 11th season, was named the NAIA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year after finishing the season at 32-4. Hans was also named the Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year. He led his team back to the title game where the Saints won their first NAIA title. Hans coached five all-conference players and one NAIA honorable mention this year.
Â
Â
