ATLANTA, Ga. – The Wildcats court general will start the year among the league's best. Fort Valley State's Aaniyah Allen received All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Second Team honors announced Monday morning.

Allen and the Wildcats made the program's most successful run in a decade last year. Head Coach Doug Robertson guided FVSU to a regular season second-place finish in the SIAC East at 12-7 mark and the team's first winning record of 15-11 since the squad went 15-13 during the 2012-13 campaign.

The sophomore point guard helped to lead the Wildcats to the SIAC Tournament Semifinals before it fell to runner-up Kentucky State. After starting 3-4 in the early part of the season, FVSU finished 12-7 over the final 19 contests and was one of the league's hottest teams in the second semester of the docket.

Even though it finished second and return three of its five starters from a year ago, FVSU was picked third in the SIAC East behind both defending champion Savannah State and Clark Atlanta. In the West Division, SIAC Tournament champion Miles College is rated at the top spot with Tuskegee and Kentucky State at two and three.

Despite leading the SIAC in steals and the top back court defender in the Conference, Allen garnered only the Second Team status. Miles College swept the Preseason Awards with guard Iemyiah Harris as the Preseason Player of the Year and Madison Lee as the Defensive Player of the Year.

Leading the 2024-25 Wildcat attack, Allen will guide the offense for a second year. The Elberton, Ga., native recorded solid first-year numbers of 11.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.0 steals per game. Aaniyah totaled 305 points where she hit 101 of her 270 field goals (.374), 14 3-point field goals, and 89 of 113 free throws (.788). Allen grabbed 90 rebounds, swiped a SIAC-high 78 steals and handed out 89 assists.

Allen pumped in a season-high 24 points in the SIAC Quarterfinals win over Albany State. She had two other 20-point outings with 22 points against Benedict College and 20 points versus Albany State. The point guard posted multi-steal games in 24 of 26 games with five steals against both Talladega College and Benedict. The Elbert County High grad scored in double figures 16 times and handed out three-plus assists 19 times with seven helpers twice.

Starting on November 12, FVSU opens its 2024-25 schedule on the road in Sumter, S.C., in a 6 p.m. tip-off at Morris College.

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