Mocs Shawn Poppie Named SoCon Coach of the Year
(gomocs.com) SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Chattanooga women’s basketball was well-represented in the Southern Conference’s postseason awards list released by the league on Tuesday, with the Mocs bringing in a grand total of five honors following the team’s record-filled 2023-24 regular season.
Head coach Shawn Poppie headlined the group for the Mocs, as in just his second year at the helm of UTC women’s basketball, Poppie came away with the title of Southern Conference Coach of the Year. Alongside Poppie, the duo Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson both received First Team All-Conference nods, while Sigrun Olafsdottir earned a place on the All-Defensive Team Hannah Kohn found a spot on the All-Freshman Team.
Poppie becomes the first Chattanooga coach since Jim Foster in 2014-15 to take home the honor of SoCon Coach of the Year. Poppie’s win this season marks the 11th time in program history that a UTC head coach has won the award.
With Guinn and Thompson both being named First Team All-SoCon, this is also the first time since 2014-15 that two Mocs have appeared on the All-Conference First Team since 2014-15 (Chelsey Shumpert, Jasmine Joyner). There has now been a total of 59 First Team All-Conference honorees in program history.
Olafsdottir’s selection to the All-Defensive Team stands as just the sixth time a Chattanooga player has been recognized on the team, with the most recent being Abbey Cornelius during the 2021-22 season.
Finally, Kohn’s placement on the All-Freshman team marks back-to-back seasons that a rookie Moc has been honored by the conference (Raven Thompson, 2022-23). Kohn is the 16th player in program history to earn an All-Freshman nod from the conference.
Year two of the Shawn Poppie Era has gone just about as good as one could hope, with the Mocs ending their regular season with a staggering 25-4 overall record paired with a 13-1 finish in the Southern Conference. Nearly two weeks before the season concluded, the Mocs were able to clinch the outright SoCon regular season title, marking the program’s 23rd time hoisting the regular season trophy. UTC is set to enter the SoCon Tournament this Thursday as the No. 1 seed and will be gunning for the program’s 20th SoCon Tournament victory.
Jada Guinn wraps up what could be considered a SoCon Player of the Year caliber performance over the 2023-24 regular season, as Guinn is currently on the brink of entering the UTC record books in multiple areas following an unreal graduate campaign. Guinn is currently averaging a staggering 18.9 points/game on a conference-leading 51.8 percent shooting split, alongside 7.0 rebounds/game, 2.6 assists/game, 1.0 steals/game and 0.4 blocks/game. A four-time SoCon Player of the Week honoree and one-time TSWA Player of the Week honoree, Guinn sits just 13 points shy of entering the program Top 10 all-time in single-season scoring with Guinn currently having scored 549 this season.
Raven Thompson’s sophomore season has provided nearly a carbon copy of her freshman season from a year ago that saw her ultimately named to the 2022-23 SoCon Second Team. Thompson is currently averaging 14.6 points/game, 6.9 rebounds/game, 1.8 assists/game, 0.9 steals/game and 0.3 blocks/game for the Mocs, providing a lethal one-two punch alongside Guinn throughout the year. Having scored 400+ points now in back-to-back seasons, Thompson is currently just 99 points away from joining the 1000 career points club after playing in just 61 total games so far in her career.
Sigrun Olafsdottir has cemented herself as one of the conference’s premier defenders, as her 2023-24 season was one that also saw her being narrowly beaten out for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award. While Olafsdottir’s general numbers of 32 steals and three blocks on the season don’t jump off the page, it’s when you watch Olafsdottir play where you can truly see why the league’s coaches had her finish second in the voting. Serving as the primary defender of Coach Poppie’s defense, Olafsdottir continually locked up the leading scorers of multiple league opponents throughout the year, often holding them to single-digit performances against the Mocs.
Hannah Kohn has quickly emerged not only as one of the biggest three-point threats in the Southern Conference, but in the entire NCAA as she has provided limitless range to the UTC offense in her rookie season. Averaging 7.4 points/game this year off the bench for the Mocs, Kohn has already made 56 total three-pointers this year on a league best three-point percentage of 45.9 percent (56-for-122). Not only is Kohn just eight made threes away from tying the program’s freshman record for made three-pointers in a season, but she is nine made threes away from entering the program’s Top 10 in single-season made three-pointers. Additionally, if the season were to end today, Kohn would hold the program record for single-season three-point percentage.
While the regular season honors are certainly nice pats on the back for the Mocs, the team has its focus completely set on this coming weekend’s Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville. The No. 1 seed Mocs are set to square off against No. 8 seed Western Carolina at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday morning, with the winner advancing to play either Mercer or ETSU the following day at 11 a.m. ET. The SoCon Tournament Championship is set to be played on Sunday, March 10 at 12 p.m. ET.
Coaches Poll
Player of the Year: Rachael Rose, Jr, G, Wofford
Freshman of the Year: Kennedy Langham, G, Samford
Defensive Player of the Year: Ayanna Khalfani, Gr., G, UNCG
Coach of the Year: Shawn Poppie, UTC
Ann Lashley Inspiration Award: Tate Walters, R-Jr., G, Furman
First Team All-Conference
Rachael Rose, Jr., Wofford
Jada Guinn, Gr., UTC
Raven Thompson, So., UTCNevaeh Brown, Jr., ETSU
Jayde Gamble, Jr., UNCG
Second Team All-Conference
Summah Evans, Sr., MER
Ayanna Khalfani, Gr., UNCG
Jada Session, Jr., FUR
Stacie Jones, Sr., MER
Lonasia Brewer, Gr., WCU
All-Defensive Team
Ayanna Khalfani, Gr., UNCG
Sigrun Olafsdottir, Jr., G, UTC
Summah Evans, Sr., MER
Emily Bowman, So., C, SAM
Annabelle Schultz, Sr., G, WOF
All-Freshman Team
Kennedy Langham, SAM
Evangelia Paulk, WOF
Hannah Kohn, UTCMaddie Heiss, WOF
Tyja Beans, WCU
SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) All-Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Teams
Player of the Year: Rachael Rose, Jr., G, WOF
Freshman of the Year: Evangelia Paulk, F/G, WOF
Coach of the Year: Shawn Poppie, UTC
First Team All-Conference
Rachael Rose, Jr., Wofford
Jada Guinn, Gr., UTC
Raven Thompson, So., UTCNevaeh Brown, Jr., ETSU
Jayde Gamble, Jr., UNCG
Second Team All-Conference
Summah Evans, Sr., MER
Jada Session, Jr., FUR
Ayanna Khalfani, Gr., UNCG
Stacie Jones, Sr., MER
Kate Johnson, So., FUR
Third Team All-Conference
Annabelle Schultz, Sr., G, WOF
Niveya Henley, R-So., G, FUR
Emily Bowman, So., C, SAM
Lonasia Brewer, Gr., WCU
Carly Heidger, R-So., G, SAM
All-Freshman Team
Evangelia Paulk, WOF
Maddie Heiss, WOF
Kennedy Langham, SAM
Tyja Beans, WCU
Hannah Kohn, UTC
