1st-Teamers Baker, Lytle Headline Lady Flames' ASUN WBB Honorees
3/9/2021 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
For the first time since Liberty joined the ASUN Conference, a pair of Lady Flames (seniors Ashtyn Baker and Emily Lytle) have earned first team all-conference honors in the same season. Bella Smuda made the ASUN All-Freshman Team, while Baker and Mya Berkman were each voted to the ASUN All-Academic Team for the second year in a row.
During Liberty's first two seasons as an ASUN member, the Lady Flames had totaled just one first team all-conference honoree. Liberty doubled that on Tuesday, boasting a pair of first team all-conference picks for the first time since 2012-13, when Devon Brown and Tolu Omotola made the first team All-Big South squad.
A guard from Nesbit, Miss., Baker was named ASUN Player of the Week on Jan. 4. She leads the Lady Flames in assists (2.5 apg), steals (1.3 spg) and three-point field goal percentage (38.1) while ranking second on the team in scoring (11.9 ppg) and three-pointers made (37).
Entering this season, Baker was a 28.8 percent career three-point shooter who had totaled 46 made triples in three years. In 2020-21, Baker has knocked down 37 three-pointers at a 38.1 percent clip, threatening the program single-season record of 38.8 percent. She also tallied her 1,000th career point on Feb. 7 at North Florida.
Off the court, Baker graduated in May 2020 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science and a 3.51 GPA. She currently owns a 3.34 graduate GPA as she pursues a master's degree in executive leadership.
Lytle, the ASUN Player of the Week on Dec. 21, paces the Lady Flames in scoring (13.9 ppg) and three-pointers made (45). She has scored in double figures a team-high 17 times, including five 20-point games and a career-high 30-point outing at Memphis on Dec. 6.
A forward from Memphis, Tenn., Lytle knocked down her first 22 free throw attempts to start the season, wrapping up a program-record streak of 34 in a row. She became the 18th member of Liberty's 1,000-point club at Bellarmine on Feb. 13.
One of three unanimous selections to the all-freshman team, Smuda was a three-time ASUN Freshman of the Week (Jan. 18, Feb. 1 & Feb. 15). That tied ASUN Freshman of the Year Sakyia White for the most honors of any conference rookie this season.
Smuda is averaging 7.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg and a team-high 1.1 bpg in just 13.8 minutes per game this season. That is an average of 22.1 points, 13.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per 40 minutes of playing time. The center from Exton, Pa., recorded her first career double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds) versus Jacksonville on Jan. 31.
Berkman, a junior center from Marble Falls, Texas, boasts a 3.92 GPA as an accounting major. On the court, she is averaging career highs for points (9.9 ppg) and rebounds (team-best 6.1 rpg). Berkman's 70.1 field goal percentage leads the ASUN and is on track to set a new Liberty single-season record. She posted her first career double-double (16 points, 11 boards) during a Jan. 17 victory over North Alabama.
Berkman and Baker joined Kennesaw State's Amani Johnson as the only repeat ASUN All-Academic Team members from 2020. Baker and Johnson were the only two ASUN players to earn both all-conference and all-academic recognition this season.
Seeded No. 2 for the 2021 ASUN Women's Basketball Championship, Liberty (17-7, 12-4 ASUN) will square off against No. 7 seed Bellarmine (5-16, 5-11 ASUN) in the quarterfinal round, Thursday at 7 p.m. at the KSU Convocation Center in Kennesaw, Ga.
ASUN Player of the Year: Kierstan Bell, FGCU
ASUN Defensive Player of the Year: Jazz Bond, North Florida
ASUN Newcomer of the Year: Kierstan Bell, FGCU
ASUN Freshman of the Year: Sakyia White, North Alabama
ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Rhetta Moore, North Florida
ASUN Coach of the Year: Karl Smesko, FGCU
ASUN First Team All-Conference
Kierstan Bell, FGCU
Tishara Morehouse, FGCU
Jazz Bond, North Florida
Ashtyn Baker, Liberty
Emily Lytle, Liberty
Marissa Mackins, North Florida
ASUN Second Team All-Conference
Tasia Jeffries, Bellarmine
Amani Johnson, Kennesaw State
Taylor Clark, Lipscomb
Jaida Bond, North Alabama
Yazz Wazeerud-Din, Stetson
ASUN All-Freshman Team
Sakyia White, North Alabama
Stacie Jones, Kennesaw State
Bella Smuda, Liberty
Seneca Hackley, FGCU
Jordan Peete, Lipscomb
ASUN All-Academic Team
Rhetta Moore, North Florida
Tasia Jeffries, Bellarmine
Breia Torrens, Bellarmine
Amani Johnson, Kennesaw State
Ashtyn Baker, Liberty
Mya Berkman, Liberty
Sydney Shelton, Lipscomb
Olivia Noah, North Alabama