Central Michigan University Athletics
Bradford, Johnson Earn All-MAC Individual Honors
3/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Crystal Bradford and Taylor Johnson earned individual awards and a total of five Central Michigan University women’s basketball players were recognized with All-Mid American Conference honors.
Bradford, a 6-foot junior guard, earned the Defensive Player of the Year Award, while Johnson, a 5-11 senior, was named Sixth Player of the Year.
Bradford was named to the All-MAC First Team, while CMU’s Niki DiGuilio and Jas’mine Bracey earned spots on the Third Team. Central’s Jessica Green received Honorable Mention.
The league is scheduled to release its player, coach and freshman of the year award winners on Tuesday.
It is the second-consecutive year that Bradford earned First Team honors. She leads the Chippewas in scoring (20.3 points per game), rebounding (12.2), assists (4.6), steals (2.7) and blocks (1.3). She is one of only two players in NCAA Division I to lead her team in all five of those categories.
Bradford leads the MAC in steals and rebounds per game in conference play.
“Crystal is a good off-ball defender,” CMU coach Sue Guevara said. “She gets her hand on a lot of balls, she gets deflections, she does a lot of anticipating. She’s a really good anticipator. When we press, we put her in a position that all she’s got to do is react and be very aggressive and that’s what she does.”
Johnson earned the MAC Sixth Person of the Year Award in 2010-11, her freshman year. She is the first player in league history to repeat as the Sixth Person of the Year. The MAC began recognizing a sixth person in 2003.
She averages 7.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, and is third on the team in 3-point shooting, knocking down 38.1 percent of her attempts.
“She has really embraced that role of how she can help our team coming off the bench and being valuable in what she can contribute,” Guevara said. “You look at the consistency of that for four years and that says a lot.
“I think it’s somebody who doesn’t have an ego and puts the team first, and that’s Taylor.”
It marks just the second time in history that the Sixth Player and Defensive Players of the Year have been teammates.
DiGuilio, a senior guard, is the Chippewas’ second-leading scorer (13.7) and leads the team in free throw percentage (.863), having made 69-of-80 attempts. DiGuilio ranks fourth in the MAC in free throw percentage. The senior set a new MAC single-season three-point field goal record with 97.
Bracey, a junior forward, is fourth on the team in scoring (10.9), is second in rebounding (10.5) and first in field goal percentage (.541). She is second, to Bradford, among the MAC’s top rebounders, and leads the league in field goal percentage, making 60.4 percent of her shots from the floor in conference games.
Green, a junior guard, ranks third on the team in scoring (11.7), second in assists (3.7) and steals (1.5).
The All-Conference teams, along with Defensive Player and Sixth-Player of the year awards, are voted on by coaches.
The Player, Coach and Freshman of the year awards are voted on by coaches, sports information directors, and media members who regularly cover the league. The three specialty awards will be released Tuesday afternoon.
