Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Radford University’s Georgia Simonsen led the Big South Conference this season with 35 blocks, also ranking in the top 125 nationally in the category.
The women’s basketball player led the Big South in field goal percentage and total blocks during conference play.
The Fairfax native averaged the seventh-most points in conference play with 14 a game while also placing 10th in rebounds. Simonsen led all Big South freshmen in a host of categories, including scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, and blocks. She was one of 10 Big South players to have at least three double-doubles in the conference and was the only freshman to do so.
She is the fifth Radford player to earn the Big South Freshman of the Year award, which was announced last week, in program history, joining the likes of Shannan Wilkey (1990-91), Kim Hairston (1995-96), Corri Fertitta (2004-05), and Ashlyn Traylor-Walker (2022-23).
Simonsen scored in double figures in 19 games and had seven Big South Freshman of the Week awards. She is the fifth Radford player to earn Big South Freshman of the Year in program history, joining the likes of Shannan Wilkey (1990-91), Kim Hairston (1995-96), Corri Fertitta (2004-05), and Ashlyn Traylor-Walker (2022-23).
The Robinson Secondary graduate from is a 6-1 freshman forward was a 1,000-point scorer during her high school career. She was named to first-team all-district during her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons and named to all-region and all-state teams during her sophomore and junior campaigns. She also earned awards such as District Player of the Year, Region Player of the Year and the Washington All-Met team.
She was also named to the Big South second-team. RU’s Joi Williams was named to the first-team all-Big South, while Angelina Nice was named to the all-academic team.
Williams was one of two players averaging 14 points a game with at least 2.4 made threes per game in the Big South, with the other being the Player of the Year, Macy Spencer (High Point). Her 76 made three-pointers are the second-most in a season in program history. Williams ranked second in the conference in three-point percentage during Big South play as well as sixth in scoring and seventh in field goal percentage.
The junior was one of 60 NCAA Division I players to score 36+ points in a game in the double overtime triumph over Navy on December 4. She was also the first Radford player to score 36 points in a game since 1994.
Nationally, Williams ranked in the top 75 in three-pointers per game and top 125 in steals. She is the first Radford player to make first-team all-conference in consecutive seasons since Da’Naria Erwin Spencer in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Nice received Big South All-Academic honors for the first time in her career. The sophomore holds a 3.96 cumulative GPA and is a marketing major.
Entering the program as a walk-on last season, Nice has been a key player off the bench. She finished fourth on the team in scoring with 7.9 points a game. Her performance at the Cleveland State Invitational over Thanksgiving week warranted all-tourney honors. Nice’s 2025-26 highlights include a career-high 23 points against Loyola Maryland on November 11 and a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force overtime at Longwood on February 4.
High Point’s Macy Spencer has been voted the 2025-26 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced by the conference office.
Spencer is the second Panther in three seasons to earn Big South Player of the Year honors and the seventh in program history.
She also becomes the third player all-time and the first from High Point to be voted Big South Newcomer of the Year. Spencer finished the regular season as the Big South leader in points (18.5), three-pointers per game (2.93) and free throw percentage (.810), leading High Point to a program-record 24 wins and a third-straight outright Big South regular-season title. She also ranked third in three-point percentage (.381), sixth in field goal percentage (.424), eighth in blocked shots (0.66) and ninth in assists (2.52).
