By KENT LOWE
Written For The LSWA
 
BATON ROUGE – Janelle Perez' production during the 2014-15 Northwestern State women's basketball season put her in the company of some of the best players in school history.
 
For the second time this season, a body of voters has recognized and honored Perez for the role she played in leading the Lady Demons to their second straight NCAA Tournament.
 
This time, it was the Louisiana Sports Writers Association who honored Perez, as she was voted first-team All-Louisiana by a panel of statewide sports journalists and sports information directors.
 
Perez' selection is the first All-Louisiana selection of her career and follows the first-team All-Southland Conference honor she received last month. Perez also was a first-team Academic All-Southland Conference selection.

Perez averaged 15.1 points per game, a career high, and cracked the 1,000-point career mark in February. Perez ended the season as the country's 26th-most accurate free-throw shooter (81.2 percent). 

"It's an honor for someone from our program to be chosen by the LSWA for first-team All-Louisiana," third-year co-head coach Brooke Stoehr said. "Janelle had a great season and helped lead us to our second consecutive NCAA Tournament. She has been a great competitor for us and is committed to doing whatever it takes for our team to be successful."

In Southland play, Perez was even better, averaging 19.2 points per game, which ranked her second in the conference. Perez also played the role of point guard splendidly in conference play, leading the Southland in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9).
 
Perez finished the conference season with top-10 ranks in assist-to-turnover ratio, scoring, assists per game (8^th, 3.6), free-throw shooting (T-4^th, 84.8), steals per game (6^th, 2.2), 3-point shooting (2^nd, 44.1 percent), 3-pointers made per game (2.3) and minutes played per game (7^th, 34.9).

When it came to individual honors on the All-Louisiana team, it came down to the final of 24 ballots to determine the state's top women's basketball coach. How close was the vote in the selection of the 2015 Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana Women's College Basketball team?
 
If the last vote had gone a different direction, the possibility of an unprecedented four-way tie existed.
 
As it was, DoBee Plaisance of Nicholls, the Co-Coach of the Year in the Southland Conference, won the state honor with seven votes while Lisa Stockton of Tulane and Garry Brodhead of UL-Lafayette finished with six votes. NSU's third-year co-head coaches Brooke and Scott Stoehr nabbed five votes in the category after leading the Lady Demons to consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time in program history.
 
In the voting for other special honors, Danielle Ballard of LSU, a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American, won Player of the Year honors, while Kolby Morgan of Tulane was the choice for state Freshman of the Year. Louisiana Tech's Brandi Wingate was a strong voter's choice for Newcomer of the Year for first-year non-freshman in Louisiana.
 
The voting was based on requested nominations received from the women's basketball playing SIDs in the state. Each SID submitted the names of two media members to vote along with the members of the LSWA committee that picked the weekly LSWA women's POW. Media members could select anyone on the ballot, while SIDs could not vote for their nominees in any category.
 
Plaisance has turned the Colonels program from basement dwellers to contenders in the SLC in her seven seasons at the school. She led Nicholls to a 13-5 record and third place in the SLC, the most wins in conference games in school history. Nicholls' 17 wins was the program's second-highest win total. The Colonels now have a school record three straight winning seasons and four straight seasons with double figure wins.
 
Ballard, the junior from Memphis, posted 14.4 points and 7.2 rebounds a game for the Lady Tigers, earning first-team All-SEC and All-SEC Defensive Team honors. She also averaged 2.9 assists and 2.9 steals as she was ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in steals, points, rebounds and assists.
 
Freshman Morgan from New Orleans averaged 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in earning third team All-American Conference honors. She was second among all freshmen in The American in scoring, 12th overall. Morgan was the first Tulane freshman to be selected to an All-Conference team.
 
Wingate was named the Conference USA Sixth Player of the Year for the Lady Techsters as the junior from Columbia, Maryland averaged 9.0 points and 4.9 rebounds a game. She scored in double figures 13 times.
 
Perez was joined on the first team were Ballard, Allison Baggett of McNeese, Whitney Frazier of Louisiana Tech and Kourtney Pennywell of LSU-Shreveport.
 
Baggett was first-team All-SLC and fourth in the league in scoring, averaging 16.2 points per game to go with 2.6 rebounds a contest. Frazier for the Lady Techsters was a first-team All-Conference USA choice with averages of 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Perez, also first team in the Southland, averaged 15.2 points and 3.5 assists a contest.
 
Pennywell, besides being the player of the year in the Red River Athletic Conference, she was an NAIA All-American and runnerup in the voting for state POY. She averaged a double double for the Lady Pilots with 22.5 points and 11.7 rebounds a game.
 
The second team consisted of Sharnice Brooks of ULM, Kendra Coleman of Southern, Raigyne Moncrief of LSU, Jenny Nash of Nicholls and Janeicia Neely of Loyola. The third team was Randy Brown of UNO, Whitney Gathright of Xavier, Kolby Morgan of Tulane, Kelia Shelton of Louisiana Tech and Keke Veal of UL-Lafayette.
 NAME, SCHOOL/POS./CL./HOMETOWN/NOTES
Danielle Ballard, LSU/G/Jr./Memphis, Tenn./First-Team All-SEC, SEC Def. Team, 14.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Allison Baggett, McNeese/G/Jr./Iota, La./First-Team All-SLC, 16.2 ppg, 4th in SLC in scoring,2.6 rpg
Whitney Frazier, Louisiana Tech/F/Sr./El Dorado, Ark./First-Team All-C-USA, 14.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg
Kourtney Pennywell, LSU-Shreveport/F/So./Shreveport, La./RRAC POY, NAIA A-A, 22.5 ppg, 11.7 rpg
Janelle Perez, Northwestern State/G/Jr./El Paso, Texas/First-Team All-SLC, 15.2 ppg, 3.5 apg
 
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Danielle Ballard, LSU
                Voting – Ballard 8, Kourtney Pennywell (LSUS) 6, Whitney Frazier (Louisiana Tech) 3, Janelle Perez (Northwestern State) 3, Janeicia Neely (Loyola) 2, Jenny Nash (Nicholls) 1, Allison Baggett (McNeese) 1
 
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – Kolby Morgan, Tulane
                Voting – Morgan 14, Randi Brown (UNO) 10
 
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Brandi Wingate, Louisiana Tech
                Voting – Wingate 21, Donyeah Mayfield (Xavier) 3
 
COACH OF THE YEAR – DoBee Plaisance, Nicholls
                Voting – Plaisance 7, Lisa Stockton (Tulane) 6, Garry Brodhead (UL-Lafayette) 6, Brooke/Scott Stoehr (Northwestern State) 5
 NAME, SCHOOL/POS./CL./HOMETOWN/NOTES
Sharnice Brooks, ULM/C/Sr./Mer Rouge, La./Second-Team All-SBC, 15.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg
Kendra Coleman, Southern/G/Sr./Donaldsonville, La./First Team All-SWAC, 14.1 ppg, 2.6 apg
Raigyne Moncrief, LSU/G/So./Fort Lauderdale, Fla./11.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 21 double figure scoring games
Jenny Nash, Nicholls/G/Sr./Houston, Texas/Second Team All-SLC, 14.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.1 apg
Janeicia Neely, Loyola/G/Sr./Kenner, La./SSAC First-Team, NAIA Second Team A-A, 19.1 ppg, 4.3 apg
 NAME, SCHOOL/POS./CL./HOMETOWN/NOTES
Randi Brown, UNO/G/Fr./Houma, La./SLC FOY, 12.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg
Whitney Gathright, Xavier/G/Jr./New Orleans, La./GCAC First Team, NAIA A-A HM, 12.8 ppg, 3.7 apg
Kolby Morgan, Tulane/G/Fr./New Orleans, La./Third Team All-American Conf., 12.0 ppg, 4.7 apg
Kelia Shelton, Louisiana Tech/G/Sr./Rock Hill, S.C./Second Team All-C-USA, 13.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg
Keke Veal, UL-Lafayette/G/Jr./Opelousas, La./Third Team All-SBC, 14.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg
 Danielle Blagg, Tulane, G; Jaylyn Gordon, UL-Lafayette, G, Jalyn Johnson, McNeese, G; Kia Wilridge, UL-Lafayette, G.