SAN ANTONIO – The Southland announced the 2023-24 women's basketball all-conference teams on Saturday morning, naming Nina De Leon Negron to the first team and Aliyah Collins to the second team.
 
"Guard play is critical at every level of women's basketball, and we're fortunate to have two of the very best in the Southland Conference," said Head Coach Jeff Dow. "The ascension that our program has made in the past two seasons, after winning the Southland Conference championship in 2022, is due in part to how competitive and fearless Nina and Aliyah are." 
 
Nina served as the floor leader for the Cardinals, averaging around 35 minutes per game, the second highest in the SLC. As the second leading scorer and rebounder, she also led the team in assists (92) and steals (46). At 5-foot-6, she finished with five double-doubles, scoring in double-digits for 17 games. She tallied two 20-plus point performances with 22 against Southeastern Louisiana and a career-high 28 in the double OT win over New Orleans. She leads the conference in assists, her 6.7 rebounds per game is good for sixth in the conference, she's third in the conference overall for her assist-to-turnover ratio and finished eighth in steals. In conference games alone, she led the team in rebounding while claiming fourth in the SLC and finished second for her assist-to-turnover ratio. Offensively, she ranked twelfth in scoring while claiming eighth for steals and third for points per possession.
 
"It's a tremendous accomplishment for Nina to earn this recognition from the Southland Conference coaches. It speaks to how impactful she was this season with her all-around play – scoring, assists, defense and surprisingly, on the boards.  Since her arrival she has contributed significantly in what has been two record-setting seasons for our program."
 
Collins, the sophomore guard served as a very important sixth woman for the Cardinals, leading the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game, which ranked seventh overall in the Southland Conference. Collins had a stand-out game against Lamar with her career-high 28 points and finished 18 games with double-digit scoring, to include three 20-plus point performances. Collins has tallied 65 assists and 31 steals on the season.  She also finished tenth overall in 3-point field goal percentage.
 
"Aliyah made a huge leap this season from her freshman to sophomore year in consistently providing a spark for us offensively. Virtually every offensive statistic has improved for her…points per game, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage and assists. It's no coincidence that as she improved, so did our team."
 
The full 2023-24 Women's Basketball Southland All-Conference teams can be found here.
 
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