Staley coach of year, Mitchell player of year after leading No. 5 South Carolina to SEC title

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – South Carolina's Dawn Staley is the Southeastern Conference coach of the year and guard Tiffany Mitchell is the league's player of the year after leading the fifth-ranked Gamecocks to their first SEC title.

League officials announced the awards Tuesday as voted on by the conference's 14 coaches.

South Carolina center Alaina Coates is the league's freshman of the year. Mississippi State's Martha Alwal and Texas A&M's Jordan Jones are co-defensive players of the year. Coates and Kentucky's Jennifer O'Neill are co-sixth players of the year. Missouri's Lianna Doty is scholar-athlete of the year.

Joining Mitchell and Alwal as first-team all-SEC selections are Auburn's Tyrese Tanner, Florida's Jaterra Bonds, LSU's Theresa Plaisance, Missouri's Bri Kulas, South Carolina's Aleighsa Welch, Tennessee teammates Meighan Simmons and Isabelle Harrison and Texas A&M's Courtney Walker.