From staff reports
LSU Eunice’s Jaime Gonzales and Ava Jones received big honors in this year's Louisiana Sports Writers Association women's basketball All-Louisiana Team, the association announced on Monday.
Gonzales was named Coach of the Year while Jones earned first-team recognition.
The Bengal duo are the first junior college recipients of the respective awards in the LSWA All-Louisiana team’s history.
Voting was done by Sports Information Directors and selected media members across the state.
The team is comprised of all collegiate institutions in NCAA Division I, II and III as well as NAIA and NJCAA in the state of Louisiana.
“Anytime you can say you’re considered the top of anything in the state - it is a tremendous honor,”LSU Eunice head coach Jaime Gonzales said. “This is a testament to the hard work and dedication the team put into having an extraordinary season that I think we are all very proud of.”
Jones is joined by Co-Players of the Year Ayana Mitchell (LSU) and DeAuja Thompson (LSU-Shreveport) as well as LSU-Alexandria’s Kelsey Thaxton and Tulane’s Krystal Freeman on the first team.
Jones, a Carencro High product, capped off an illustrious sophomore campaign after being named LCCAC Player of the Year as well to the NJCAA Region 23 team.
She averaged a team-best 17.5 PPG to go along with 4.0 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 2.8 SPG.
She finished 44th nationally in points per game as well as leaving the LSUE record books as 6th all-time in school history in points (656 points) and fifth in field goals made.
In his first year with the program, Gonzales led LSU Eunice to a 21-7 record and captured the school’s third straight Louisiana Community College Athletic Conference regular season title.
The team won their first Region 23 game in program history, their first postseason win since 2009.
The Bengals won their LCCAC contests by an average margin of victory of 25.4 points.
LSU senior Mitchell, a forward from Conyers, Georgia, is the first LSU player to be named Player of the Year by the LSWA since Raigyne Moncreif-Louis earned the honor in 2017.
Mitchell averaged 13.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game before having her season cut short on February 2 with a knee injury.
Her 67.9 field goal percentage led the league and ranked third in the nation at the time.
She posted nine double-doubles in 22 games played and became just the fifth LSU player to record 1,000 career points and 900 career rebounds.
LSU junior transfer Awa Trasi was named Newcomer of the Year.
Trasi, a transfer from Northwest Florida State College, averaged 6.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Tigers.
The native of Toulouse, France moved into the starting lineup over the last nine games of the season to take over for the injured Mitchell.
Over that stretch, she averaged 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, including a game-high 22 points in a win over nationally-ranked Tennessee.
LSU junior Khayla Pointer and redshirt junior Faustine Aifuwa were selected to the All-Louisiana Second Team.
Pointer, a guard from Marietta, Georgia, led LSU with 14.8 points and 4.8 assists per game.
Aifuwa, a center from Dacula, Georgia, was LSU’s top shot blocker with 2.1 per game and top rebounder since the injury to Mitchell with 7.9 rebounds per game.
Aifuwa became LSU’s eighth player to record 100 career blocked shots, while earning her 700th career point and 500th career rebound late in the season.
The second team was comprised of guard Kaila Anthony (Loyola-New Orleans), forward Ty'Reona Doucet (UL-Lafayette), guard Rehema Franklin (New Orleans), guard Khayla Pointer (LSU) and Faustine Aifuwa (LSU).
Doucet has earned LSWA recognition in back-to-back seasons after being named an Honorable Mention performer a year ago.
A native of Ville Platte, Doucet finished the season as the Ragin’ Cajuns’ leading scorer (12.6 ppg) and rebounder (7.6 rpg).
Over the course of the season, she led the team in scoring 12 times and rebounding 16 times.
She posted four double-doubles throughout the season, her last coming on Jan. 25 against in-state foe ULM when she scored 17 points and hauled in 11 boards.
Doucet was also a dominant shot blocker, swatting 39 balls in the regular season.
Her block total tied her for seventh on the school’s single season blocks list, while her 80 career blocks is tied for third in program history.
Third team members include guard Amber Dixon (Louisiana Tech), forward Damilola Balogun (McNeese State), Cormier (Louisiana College), guard Justice Coleman (Grambling State) and center Alexandria Pollard (Bossier Parish Community College).
Seven players from around the state earned honorable mention accolades, including Kira Bonner (Northwestern State), Arsula Clark (Tulane), Ciera Daniels (LSU-Alexandria), Gara Beth Self (ULM), Celica Sterling (Southeastern LA), Kendriana Washington (LSU-Alexandria) and Asia Woods (New Orleans).
LSU’s Awa Trasi (Newcomer of the Year) and Louisiana College’s ZyUnn Cormier (Freshman of the Year) round of the major individual awards on this year's team.