Peterson Named ACC Player of the Year
Peterson led the league in scoring during the regular season
Senior guard Alexis Peterson has been recognized as the 2017 Blue Ribbon Panel Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, the league announced on Tuesday morning. Peterson is the first player in Syracuse women’s basketball history to earn conference player of the year honors.
A child and family studies major in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Peterson has put together an impressive list of accolades this year. She is finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, on the midseason watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, Dawn Staley Award, and Wooden Award, and was on the watch list for the Wade Trophy.
Peterson averaged 23.6 points, 7.2 assists, and 3.1 steals per game during the 2016-17 regular season. The Columbus, Ohio native led the conference in scoring in all games played and paced the league in assists and steals in ACC contests. She set the Syracuse single-season scoring record with 683 points. In addition, she set a program record with four conference player of the week honors.
The senior guard scored an Orange single-game record 45 points in a victory against NC State on Jan. 12. It marked the most points scored by an individual, male or female, in the history of the Carrier Dome.
In 130 games played in her collegiate career, Peterson has scored 1,890 points, which ranks second in program history. She has dished out 567 assists in her time on campus, seven shy of matching the top mark in Syracuse women’s basketball history. Peterson and Washington’s Kelsey Plum are the only two active players in the country with at least 1,800 points scored and 500 assists.
The No. 21/20 Orange open ACC Tournament action on Thursday night when they take on the winner of North Carolina and Pittsburgh. The second-round contest will tipoff at 8 p.m. at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C. The game will be shown locally on tape delay on the YES Network and will available live on ACC Network Extra.