After earning preseason American Athletic Conference first-team honors in October, senior guard Feyonda Fitzgerald and junior guard Alliya Butts were honored again at the end of the season with all-conference selections.
Junior guards Donnaizha Fountain and Tanaya Atkinson also received awards. Temple had the second most players receive all-conference recognition. Connecticut’s players received five honors, including three first-team selections.
Fitzgerald was the only Owl who earned first-team all-conference distinction. The senior finished the regular season with an average of 7.3 assists per game, which ranks fifth in Division I. She also set a new conference and Temple single-season assists record with 213.
Butts, a unanimous preseason first-team all-conference selection, ended the season with second-team all-American Athletic Conference honors. Butts averaged 14.9 points per game to finish as Temple’s second-leading scorer behind Fitzgerald. Butts became the Owls’ career leader in made 3-pointers and tied the school’s single-season record with 77 made threes.
Fountain also earned second-team honors. She was the Owls’ third-leading scorer in conference play and second leading rebounder in the entire regular season. Fountain also shot at more than 40 percent efficiency from 3-point range.
Atkinson missed out on receiving all-conference honors but was named The American’s Sixth Player of the Year. She started the first seven games of the season before missing two games with a concussion. Atkinson has been a bench player since the Owls’ win against a ranked DePaul University team on Dec. 15. She led the Owls with 8.3 rebounds per game and was third on the team in minutes.
Temple is the No. 2 seed in The American’s postseason tournament and will face the winner of Friday’s game between No. 10 Houston and No. 7 Cincinnati on Saturday night in Connecticut.
Kevin Schaeffer can be reached at kevinschaeffer@temple.edu or on Twitter @_kevinschaeffer. Follow The Temple News @TheTempleNews and @TTN_Sports.
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