MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The SSAC announced its 2026 postseason women's basketball awards with three Lady Eagles being named to the All-SSAC teams, two "of the Year" awards and seven selections to the SSAC Athletic Solutions All-Academic Team.
In the first season of his second stint as main assistant coach for Faulkner women's basketball, Jake Mitchell was named SSAC Assistant Coach of the Year. After helping lead Faulkner to a 45-19 record and an NAIA Tournament berth as Reed Sutton's assistant from 2016-18 before serving as Scott Sanderson's assistant with the men's team for a 53-13 span from 2021-23, he helped his longtime colleague and friend Jacob Roark lead the Lady Eagles to a 20-7 record, hoping for another nationals berth, and a No. 2-seed in the SSAC Championship this week. The team also earned two ranked wins in the same week at home over SSAC foes William Carey and Loyola for the program's first such wins or win of any kind over the Lady Crusaders in two seasons.
Senior guard Ella Jane Connell was named SSAC Sixth Man of the Year while being Faulkner's Champions of Character honoree. Playing in 27 games but starting the last five while logging 502 minutes, Connell totaled 200 points, 89 rebounds, 52 assists and 17 steals. The Prattville, Ala., native leads the team with a 51.9% field goal percentage and 87% free throw mark. She is also on track to shatter the single-season three-point percentage mark in program history with a 49.5% mark, good for highest in the SSAC and second-best in the NAIA behind only Jenna Satterly of Freed-Hardeman. It has been a career year for Connell, scoring 97 more points than her previous season high and earning a career-high 19 points on 77.8% shooting in the win over regular season SSAC champion No. 19 Loyola on Senior Day. She also won her first career SSAC Player of the Week award.
Junior Ruthie Smith placed earned All-SSAC honors for the third straight season and First Team honors for the second consecutive. The star forward out of Rogersville, Ala., racked up 390 points on 43.4% field goal shooting and 33.8% on threes, 215 rebounds, 33 assists, 39 steals and 29 blocks in 711 minutes, 61 more than the next closest on the team. She took home two SSAC Defensive Player and one Offensive Player of the Week honors during this season to bring her career total to six and registered a career game with 31 points at Brewton-Parker Christian. She leads the team in rebounds and steals and scored her 1000th career point on the road at William Carey.
After earning All-Freshman team honors last year, Keyarra Scottland places on the Second Team. The starting point guard from Warrior, Ala., leads the team with 81 assists, good for sixth in the conference, while scoring 283 points on 42.8% shooting, 65 rebounds and 33 steals. She scored a career-high 26 points on 53.3% shooting in the upset of No. 18 William Carey on Play4Kay Night and added a career-best nine assists the next week in the home regular season finale against Dillard. In the upset of the Wolf Pack, she hit 500 career points.
Lastly, for the fifth and final time in her decorated Faulkner career, graduate wing Morgan Holland DeWitt earns All-SSAC honors, earning Second Team honors, the first time she has placed below First Team in a full season played since her true sophomore year of 2021-22. She tallied 293 points on 41.2% field goal shooting and 75% free throw shooting, 206 rebounds, 42 assists and 28 steals, a season-high for her. However, it was with career achievements that the native of Blountsville, Ala., made her last year count. She attained second place in program history in points (1839), total rebounds (1013) and defensive rebounds (750), third in assists (270), fourth in offensive boards (263), sixth in threes (142) and tied for fifth in steals (109). In the upset of WCU, she joined former teammate and all-time leading scorer in Lady Eagle history Ashlyn Adkins as just the second to hit 1800 career points. Then, two days later in the upset of the Wolf Pack, she joined Brittney Carter as the only players in program history to hit 1000 career rebounds or the 1000-1000 career mark.
Additionally, Avery Rogers, DeWitt, Sarah Wisniowski, Smith, Savannah Crimm, Scottland and Sydney Steward all earned All-Academic honors. As announced by the NAIA yesterday, Rogers, DeWitt and Wisniowski were also named 2026 NAIA Winter Sport Student-Athletes.
The full All-SSAC honors list can be found here: 2025-26 SSAC Women's Basketball Award Winners Announced - Southern States Athletic Conference
The second-seed Lady Eagles begin postseason play downtown at The Multiplex at the Cramton Bowl tomorrow at 12:30 pm against 10-seed Abraham Baldwin, who upset 7-seed Thomas in the play-in round this morning.
