HICKORY, N.C. --- Three Tusculum College women's basketball players have been named to the 2008-09 All-South Atlantic Conference Team. The announcement came at Friday's SAC Basketball Awards Banquet at the Catawba Valley Community College Arena, host site of the Food Lion SAC Tournament this weekend in Hickory, N.C.

Stephany Neptune and Jasmine Gunn return to the All-SAC First Team, while Ashli Oliver, the SAC's all-time leader in three-point field goals, garnered Second Team recognition and earns a spot on the All-Conference team for a third straight season.

The trio has led the Pioneers to a 24-4 record and a share of this year's SAC Championship, their second in as many seasons. Tusculum has recorded back-to-back 20-win campaigns, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Missy Tiber. TC is currently ranked 13th in the nation according to the USA Today/ESPN Division II Poll and are the top seed in this week's SAC Tournament.

Neptune, a 5-9 junior forward from Wallkill, N.Y., is named to the All-SAC First Team for a second straight season. She is averaging a double-double once again for the Pioneers, tallying 13.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game (1st in SAC). Neptune has been one of the most dominant post players in the nation over the last 10 games, averaging 14.3 points and 14.3 boards per contest. This past Wednesday, she established a new SAC Tournament and school single-game record 24 rebounds against Lincoln Memorial University. In that game, she also recorded her 1,000th career point. Neptune has recorded a SAC-best 11 double-doubles this year and also leads the conference in blocked shots (1.75 bpg/47th in NCAA II).

Gunn, a 5-0 sophomore guard from Nashville, Tenn., has emerged as the perennial point guard in the conference the past two seasons. The two-time All-SAC First Team honoree leads the team in scoring, averaging 15 points per game and in assists, dishing out six helpers per contest. Her assist average is second in the league and eighth in the nation. She also leads the team in steals (2.07 spg/5th in SAC) and free throw percentage (83.7%/4th in SAC). Gunn was last season's SAC Freshman of the Year.

Oliver, a 5-7 senior guard from Kokomo, Ind., earns All-SAC honors for a third straight season. In her stellar four-year career at Tusculum, she has scored 1,493 points, which are fifth in school history. She is already the all-time three-point field goal leader in school and SAC history with 372 treys. That tally is second all-time in the NCAA II history and just 13 shy of a new DII record. Oliver leads the SAC once again in three-point field goals per game, averaging 2.89 per contest. She is averaging 10.8 points per game this season.

Tusculum will face No. 4 seed Carson-Newman College on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first of two semifinal games. The winner will face either Lenoir-Rhyne University of Newberry College in Sunday's championship game at 2 p.m. The winner of the SAC Tournament earns the league's automatic berth to the NCAA II Tournament.

- SAC -

All-South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Team
First Team
Shari Buford, Carson-