Smoky Mountain Today

For the first time in program history, Carson-Newman can tout a pair of College Sports Communicators Academic All‐District Women's Basketball Team members, recognizing the nation's top student‐athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom, with Braelyn Wykle and Campbell Penland each earning a spot.

Wykle is on the team for the third year in a row while Penland is the sixth player in program history to earn a slot on an academic roster most recently accomplished by Kayla Marosites, a third-team Academic All-American in 2019-20. Monica Ashburn was an all-district selection in 2003 while Missy Brown and Karen Morton were Academic All-Americans in 1982 and 1986 respectively.

Penland has a 4.0 grade-point average in biology and is having a breakout sophomore season averaging 13 points per game with 6.4 rebounds, three assists, 50 steals and 18 shot blocks on the year. The Sevierville, Tenn. native has 18 double-digit scoring efforts and three games with at least 20 points. She has led the team in scoring six times, rebounding seven times and assists on 10 occasions.

In February, the guard became the 14th player in the history of the program to make at least 100 three-pointers as her 107 place her 12th on the school's all-time list. One of the best foul shooters in the nation, Penland ranks 22nd in the country with an 88-percent mark at the line. She is top 10 in the conference in assists, steals, and three-pointers.

Tallying a trio of double-doubles for the year, the highlight was scoring 14 points with 13 rebounds in a win over King on Dec. 19. The guard made the first 19 foul shots of the year before missing one in game eight against eighth-ranked North Georgia on Dec. 3. Penland tallied a new career-high 24 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals at No. 23 Wingate on Feb. 18 following that performance up with 22 points and eight boards in a win over Lenoir-Rhyne two days later.

Wykle brings her career hardware count to 29 with the plaudit touting a 3.59 GPA in nursing. On Feb. 11, the junior scored a career-high 44 becoming the second player in school history and sixth in SAC history to score 2,000 points for a career. Burying seven triples, she passed Tatum Burstrom for the career record for three-pointers while finishing three points shy of the school and league record for points in a game. The guard has 2,093 points for her career, 340 shy of the school record. Among active Division II players, she is second with a career scoring average of 19.2 points per game, a mark that is No. 15 across all NCAA divisions, sixth in total points, fourth in career free-throw percentage with an 86.7 percent mark and seventh in made triples.

The Greeneville, Tenn. native has been in double figures 25 times with 13 20-point efforts and four games of at least 30 leading the club in scoring 18 times and in assists on seven occasions. She has three-plus assists on 11 occasions and three or more steals six times. In the second semester, the league's leading scorer is averaging 24 points per game (332 total) with nine games of at least 20 in 14 outings.

Nationally, Wykle ranks second in the country making 92.7 percent of her foul shots, 12th in scoring average at 21.1, 13th in field goals with 200, 13th in three-point percentage with 43.6, and 18th in three-pointers made with 72. The junior has made 22 consecutive foul shots since a miss at Mars Hill on Feb. 8 with the school record of 29 in row set by Vickee Kazee during the 1981-82 season. Since Jan. 7, Wykle is 45-for-47, 96 percent, at the charity stripe.

The Division II Google Cloud Academic All-America program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2021-22 Division II Academic All-America teams.

The district consists of the South Atlantic Conference, Peach Belt and Conference Carolinas. By earning a slot on the all-district team, Both players are eligible for an All-American nod to be announced in mid-March.

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