ATLANTA, Ga. – The Wildcats' sparkplug earned league acclaim. Fort Valley State's Diamond Jones drove her way to the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Second Team as one of the top 10 best players of the 14-team league.
 
The Evergreen, Ala., native helped FVSU (6-16) wrap up the regular season with the year's biggest victory last Tuesday evening in a 58-53 win over Savannah State. Jones and FVSU aims for another trip to the SIAC Tournament Quarterfinals like a year ago as it starts the 2023 run on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 26) in a 2 p.m. meeting with LeMoyne-Owen College at Savannah State's Tiger Arena.
 
The 5-5 senior guard led FVSU in scoring and ranked fifth in the SIAC at 14.9 points per contest. Jones also rated within the league leaders in five other categories including third in steals (2.3 spg), seventh in assists (3.4 apg), eighth in assist/turnover ratio (0.8), 11^th in 3-point field goals made (26) and 13^th in 3-point field goal percentage (.283). Along with her team-best scoring average, Diamond led the Wildcats with 98 field goals made, 68 assists and 45 steals, while she pulled in 3.7 rebounds (73).
 
Jones hit for double figures in points in 17 of her 20 games this season along with a career-high 34 points where she made 12 of 23 field goals, four of nine 3-pointers and six of eight free throws against Allen University. The veteran guard also posted 30 points to go with nine rebounds and two steals at Central State. Jones swiped at least one ball in 17 of 20 contests with a career-high eight at Albany State and 13 multiple steal nights. Diamond rounded out her top numbers with nine assists versus SIAC West champ Tuskegee.

In 49 career games as a Wildcat, Diamond totaled 700 points (14.3 ppg), 159 rebounds (3.2 rpg), 160 assists (3.3 apg) and 101 steals (2.1 spg). She downed 70 treys and netted 229 field goals.
 
2023 TIAA SIAC Women's Basketball All-Conference Team
presented by Cricket
 
First Team

Nyla Allen	Guard	Freshman	Savannah State	Jacksonville, FL
Ashiala Jackson	Forward	R-Senior	Tuskegee	Merrillville, IN
Iemyiah Harris	Guard	Sophomore	Miles	Anniston, AL
Kailyn Nash	Guard/Forward	Sophomore	Central State	Muskegon, MI
JuToreyia Willis	Guard	Graduate Student	Tuskegee	Chattanooga, TN

 
Second Team

Diamond Jones	Guard	Senior	Fort Valley State	Evergreen, AL
Tyashia Bostick	Guard/Forward	R-Junior	Spring Hill	Charleston, SC
Corriana Evans	Guard/Forward	Junior	Clark Atlanta	Griffin, GA
Amari Heard	Guard	Senior	Savannah State	West Point, MS
Kayla Simmons	Forward	Senior	Lane	Brandon, MS

 
Coach of the Year: Trelanne Powell, Tuskegee
Player of the Year: Ashiala Jackson, Tuskegee
Defensive Player of the Year: JuToreyia Willis, Tuskegee
Newcomer of the Year: Iemyiah Harris, Miles
Freshman of the Year: Madison Lee, Miles
 
Elite 14: 
Naja Fenelo (Kentucky State, 4.0),
JuToreyia Willis (Tuskegee, 4.0), 
Karyn Knight (LeMoyne-Owen, 4.0), and
Mahogany Randall (Benedict, 4.0)