INDIANA, Pa. – Senior guard Carolyn Appleby was named the 2018-19 IUP Women's Athlete of the Year, announced Friday, June 28 by the IUP Athletic Department.
 
The award is part of the Crimson & Gray Awards, which recognize the top athletes, coaches, teams and performances of the IUP Athletics season. The Awards are in their third year of existence.
 
Appleby earned All-American honors as she helped lead the Crimson Hawks to 30 wins, a No. 1 ranking, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and Atlantic Region titles, and a return trip to the national semifinals.
 
She earned All-Atlantic Region honors and was named first team All-PSAC West for the second straight season. Appleby was named IUP Athlete of the Week four times, the most of any women's student-athlete during the 2018-19 season.

One of the top pure scorers in the region, Appleby averaged 17.9 points per game while dishing out 133 total assists, the seventh highest in single season program history, had 58 steals, shot 42.8 percent from the floor and made 49 3-pointers. Her 606 total points was the fifth highest in IUP single season history.
 
Appleby went for 20 points, 13 times in 34 games, including having three 20-point games in the post season. She scored a season-high 28 points in the PSAC semifinal win over Seton Hill as she earned PSAC Tournament MVP and Atlantic Region All-Tournament Team honors. 

Appleby wrapped up her IUP career as one of the top scorers in program history, ranking second with 1,723 points, fourth with 406 assists and seventh with 168 three-pointers made.
  
This is the third Crimson & Gray honor for Appleby this summer, also being named Senior and Postseason Performer of the year. Appleby is the second women's basketball player to earn the Athlete of the Year award, also Lindsay Stamp in 2014-15.
 
About the Athlete of the Year Award
The IUP Athlete of the Year is given each year to the men's and women's student-athletes, regardless of class eligibility, who had the best individual seasons. Starting in 2013, the award was voted on by fans in a bracket-style format. For the 2013-14 season, both men's and women's Athletes of the Year were named, with fan voting eliminated. That format ran for three years before the expansion and announcement of the Crimson and Gray Awards in 2017. 
 
About the Crimson & Gray Awards
The Crimson & Gray Awards are in their third year of existence and consist of 18 total categories - nine women, nine men - with top performers and performances from the 2018-19 year eligible.
 
Awards include: Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Performance of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, Postseason Performer of the Year, Senior of the Year, Team of the Year and Athlete of the Year.

The IUP Sports Information Office collected award nominations from its coaches, with those nominees voted on by a select panel to narrow each category down to finalists. That panel votes again to determine the winners.
 
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