HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – With the close of the 2020-21 campaign, the Alabama A&M Sports Information Office is producing a Season in Review for each of the program's 14 sports that competed during the year.
 
That series will begin with the fall season before progressing to the winter and spring campaigns. Each week reviews will be released on Mondays and Wednesdays until concluding with the final spring sport on Wednesday, July 28 and a Department Season in Review on Monday, August 2.
 
Today we take a look back at the 2020-21 Women's Basketball season.
 
2020-21 Women's Basketball
Conference Affiliation: Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)
Overall/Conference Finish: 10-7, 8-5 (4^th)
Final National Ranking: N/A
NCAA: N/A
All-Americans/All-America: 3 CoSIDA Academic All-America Third-Team: Dariauna Lewis, Black College Sports Network (BCSN) First-Team: Dariauna Lewis, BOXTOROW First-Team: Dariauna Lewis
All-Region Selections: 1 CoSIDA Academic All-District: Dariauna Lewis
All-Conference Selections: 2 (First-Team: Dariauna Lewis, Second-Team: Deshawna Harper)
Conference Weekly Honors: 5 – Player of the Week: Dariauna Lewis (Dec. 2, Feb. 2, Feb. 9, Feb. 26), Impact Player of the Week: Dariauna Lewis (Mar. 2)
Major Awards and Honors: 3 BCSN National Player of the Year: Dariauna Lewis, BOXTOROW National Player of the Week (Feb. 9): Dariauna Lewis, Preseason Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List: Dariauna Lewis
 
2020-21 Season in Review

• Defeated No. 11 (Mid-Major) Troy 80-69 (11/28) in season opener before 20-day layoff due to COVID-19 protocols.
• Won five straight from January 9 through February 8 with 16-day interruption in the middle of that stretch. Defeated Mississippi Valley State (1/9) 65-41, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1/11) 57-47, Texas Southern (2/1) 73-50 and MVSU (2/6) 81-43 and UAPB (2/8) 76-69 during that stretch.
• Made it eight wins in 10 games three consecutive wins against Southern (2/24) 78-76, Prairie View A&M (2/27) 74-51 and TSU (3/1) 64-36.
• Led the SWAC in fewest fouls (270) and fewest turnovers (270)
• Played majority of season with between six and seven players due to injury.

 
Individual Achievements/Honors

• Dariauna Lewis delivered a season for the ages with averages of 17.8 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 0.9 assists and 0.9 steals and shot .604 from the field.
• Lewis ranked second in the nation in rebounding, making her the highest ranked Bulldog ever in the program's NCAA Division I Era history. She also owns the top six such marks, including No. 7 in field goal percentage and No. 9 in defensive rebounds (8.8) from this season. Dating to last season, her marks are the highest since Brittney Strickland ranked No. 15 in steals per game in 2013-14.
• Tracking back to available records when the NCAA officially began sponsoring women's basketball in 1981-82, Lewis' 13.0 rebounds marks the second highest in recorded program history behind only Latriesha Moon's 14.9 during the 1997-98 season. That also makes it the most at the DI level and she is just the seventh Bulldog to pull it off among the nine times it's been done.
• In terms of awards, Lewis made program history on and off the court as she was named a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Third-Team Academic All-America and Academic All-District honoree. Both were the first in 29 years for any Bulldog program, making her both the first to accomplish the feat at the Division I level and the first female student-athlete to do so period. She was also named Black College Sports Network National Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American for that organization and BOXTOROW as well as an All-SWAC First-Team selection.
• Lewis was also named SWAC Player of the Week four times and the league's Impact Player of the Week (a new award) once.
• She wasn't alone in collecting honors as Deshawna Harper was named All-SWAC Second-Team for a second straight season after posting averages of 15.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 steals and shot .347 (43-of-124) from beyond the arc.
• Harper also surpassed the 1,000-point plateau, finishing the 2020-21 campaign with 1,012 career points and another season to go. She accomplished the feat on the road at Grambling (3/6) in the regular season finale.
• Far from the only ones stuffing the stat sheet, Lewis and Harper were joined by Nigeria Jones with averages of 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.2 steals while Elexis Evans nearly averaged a double-double with 9.1 points and 8.1 rebounds in addition to a .595 clip from the field.
• Lewis, Jones and Harper each named to All-SWAC Preseason Team.

 
Schedule of Season in Review Releases
Football (June 14)
Women's Soccer (June 16)
Women's Basketball (June 21)
Men's Basketball (June 23)
Women's Indoor Track & Field (June 28)
Men's Indoor Track & Field (June 30)
Bowling (July 5)
Men's Golf (July 7)
Women's Tennis (July 12)
Men's Tennis (July 14)
Men's Outdoor Track & Field (July 19)
Women's Outdoor Track & Field (July 21)
Softball (July 26)
Baseball (July 28)
Athletics (August 2)