BANNER ELK, N.C. - University of North Georgia forward Julianne Sutton earned the honor of D2CCA Southeast Region Player of the Year Thursday.
In addition to her first-team honor, teammate Caroline Martin was named to the All-Region second team.
Sutton, a 6-1 senior from Flowery Branch, Ga., earned her first First Team All-Region nod, after becoming the sixth player in Peach Belt Conference history to repeat as the Player of the Year and the first to do so in non-consecutive seasons. She guided the Nighthawks to their second consecutive PBC Tournament Championship, while also leading the program to their third PBC regular-season championship in five seasons.
The senior was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the third straight year.
This year, she became the only player in PBC history to reach 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds and is currently fourth all-time in career points and seventh in career rebounds. Sutton is currently ranked seventh in the PBC in scoring, fourth in rebounding, second in field goal percentage and fifth in free throw percentage.
Martin is second on the team in scoring at just under 15 points per contest and shoots at a 39 percent clip from beyond the 3-point line. Last year's Freshman of the Year, she was named an All-Conference honoree for the second time in her career after being named to the third team last year.
North Georgia will open up Southeast Regional action on Friday at 5 p.m. against eighth-seeded Columbus State.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2022/3/1084682/basketball-branchs-sutton-named-region-player-of-the-year