AUGUSTA — University of North Georgia women's basketball player Caroline Martin was named the Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year by the league Friday afternoon.
In addition, Martin was named a third-team All-Conference honoree. Abbie Franklin and Julianne Sutton also earned first-team honors.
Martin has had an explosive first year for North Georgia. The Cumming native is ranked ninth in the PBC in scoring at 14.6 points per game following her 35-point explosion against Clayton State in the PBC Tournament semifinals on Wednesday. That is tied for the highest single-game point total in the PBC this season and is the first 30+ point game of her career. She scored 20 or more three times and is second on the team in scoring. She added 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game and was named the PBC Player of the Week on Dec. 21. Martin becomes the fifth Nighthawk to be named the PBC Freshman of the Year, the first since teammate Franklin won in 2018. She is the 10th Freshman of the Year under Buffie Burson, including the NAIA era.
Franklin, a senior from Homer, continued her impressive career in the 2020-21 season, averaging 9.6 points per contest while dishing out a team-high 71 assists. Shooting nearly 41 percent from the floor and over 38 percent from behind the arc, the former Freshman of the Year surpassed 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds this season and was named to the All-League squad for the second time in her career after earning second-team honors a season ago.
Sutton, a senior from Flowery Branch, Georgia, leads UNG with 15.7 points per contest. The 2020 PBC Player of the Year, Sutton surpassed 1,500 career points this season and is currently shooting 54.5 percent from the floor, including hitting nearly 31 percent of her three-pointers. At 8.6 rebounds per game, Sutton was named to her second All-Conference team in her career.
The No. 6 Nighthawks will look to win their third league tournament championship in four years when they battle No. 2 Lander Saturday in Greenwood. Tip time is set for 1:30 p.m.
