University of North Carolina Athletics
DeShields Named ACC Rookie of the Year
March 5, 2014 | Women's Basketball
A native of Norcross, Ga., DeShields earned first team All-ACC and All-Freshman team honors on Tuesday. She set Carolina's freshman single-game and single-season scoring records during the 2013-14 season.
DeShields, the only freshman named on the ACC first team, averaged a team-high 17.7 points per game in leading North Carolina to a 22-8 overall record, 10-6 in the conference.
Her numbers were even better during conference games, leading all freshman in scoring at 19.8 ppg. DeShields earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors on three occasions.
In the victory over Duke on Sunday, DeShields became the first Carolina freshman to ever score over 500 points in a single season. Earlier in the season, she scored 38 points at NC State to set a school mark.
The next day following the win over the Wolfpack, DeShields was named national player of the week by espnW and the USBWA after her performance in three games that saw her average 29.0 points per game, helping the Tar Heels earn road wins over #3 Duke and #10 NC State in a span of six days. That same day she was also named ACC Player of the Week, becoming the first freshman to garner the award since Duke's Monique Curry in March 2002.
DeShields was the only first-year player named to both the midseason watch lists for the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy.
No. 13 North Carolina (22-8, 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) earned the sixth seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament and will play Thursday at 8 p.m., against the winner of Wednesday's first round game between Wake Forest and Pittsburgh.
