Nicholls junior Cassidy Barrios named Southland Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year

FRISCO, Texas – Nicholls State University junior Cassidy Barrios received the Southland’s highest awards for her play on the court, garnering regular season player of the year and tournament MVP, and Thursday, she completed a rare trifecta as the league named her the 2017-18 Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year.

After being voted Second Team All-Academic last season, Barrios was automatically placed on first team this year following her First Team All-Southland selection. In addition to her second straight all-academic honor, the Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, voted Barrios student-athlete of the year.

Barrios, a business management major with a 3.704 grade point average, is the second student-athlete under head coach DoBee Plaisance to garner the award, joining current assistant coach Jenny Nash who received it in 2015.

A five-time player of the week for the conference, Barrios led the Colonels to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament after being named Southland Tournament MVP as Nicholls claimed its first Southland Tournament title. The Raceland native was superb in all three games in Katy, Texas, averaging 23.7 points on 52.3 percent shooting. She shot 10-of-16 from 3-point range and added 7.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

For the season, Barrios was named as the top player in the league and finished the campaign averaging 17.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. She ranked in the top 10 of the Southland in eight categories – points (3rd), rebounding (3rd), assists (8th), steals (2nd/2.9), blocks (2nd/1.5), field goal percentage (8th/.462), 3-point percentage (2nd/.400), and free throw percentage (3rd/.847) – while also leading the conference in minutes. She recorded a league-high 16 double-doubles, highlighted by a 24-point, 20-rebound effort at HBU.

Along with the postseason success, Barrios helped the Colonels match two program records. Nicholls finished with 19 victories, tying the single-season mark set in 2012-13. The Colonels also entered the NCAA Tournament on a seven-game winning streak, matching the program’s longest.

Including Barrios, all five first-team academic honorees were automatic selections. Joining Barrios on the top team were HBU’s Amanda Johnson (4.00 GPA/biology), Lamar’s Chastadie Barrs (3.51/corporate communications) and Moe Kinard (3.57/criminal justice), and Stephen F. Austin’s Stevi Parker (3.00 GPA/non-degree grad studies).

Second-team members by way of vote were Lamar’s Kiandra Bowers (3.75/English), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Brittany Mbamalu (3.66/M.A. public administration), Abilene Christian’s Sierra Allen (3.88/school psychology) and Breanna Wright (3.50/English-teaching), and Southeastern Louisiana’s Taylin Underwood (3.28/accounting).

The student-athlete of the year award is presented to the student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated achievement in athletics for at least two years at the nominating institution.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.