GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina Tar Heels freshman guard Diamond DeShields was selected to the All-ACC First Team, while joining teammate Allisha Gray in being picked to the ACC All-Freshman Team as announced by the Atlantic Coast Conference on Tuesday.
All-ACC First Team, All-ACC Second Team, and All-Freshman Team selections were voted on by the league’s Blue Ribbon Panel which consists of national and local media members as well as school representatives.
The only freshman named on the First Team, DeShields has had a phenomenal regular season with the 13th-ranked Tar Heels, setting program freshman single-game and single-season scoring records.
She has averaged a team-leading 18 points per game, is tied with Gray for the team lead in steals (48), and is third in both rebounds (5.5) and assists (77) this season for the Tar Heels.
Her numbers were even better within the conference, leading all first-year players in scoring at 20 points per game.
While becoming the first North Carolina freshman to ever score over 500 points in a single season, DeShields also set a school mark when she scored 38 points at NC State.
Gray currently ranks fourth in the league in three-point shooting at 42 percent (52-of-124), while her 14 points-per- game average is second on the team and among the top 20 in the ACC.
She is tied for the team lead in both steals (48) and free throws made (79), and is fourth in rebounding with five per game.
DeShields and Gray are among a group of only 10 UNC freshmen to ever score 400 points in a season, and are the first pair of freshman teammates to score that many points in a season since current Tar Heels assistant coach Ivory Latta and Camille Little in 2003-04.
Both players earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors three times apiece during conference play while DeShields was also named Player of the Week on Feb. 17.
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Blue Ribbon Panel All-ACC Team
First Team All-ACC
Diamond DeShields, Fr., G, North Carolina
Markeisha Gatling, Sr., C, NC State
Dearica Hamby, Jr., F, Wake Forest
Natasha Howard, Sr., F, Florida State
Tricia Liston, Sr., G, Duke
Jewell Loyd, So., G, Notre Dame
Tyaunna Marshall, Sr., G, Georgia Tech
Kayla McBride, Sr., G, Notre Dame
Alyssa Thomas, Sr., F, Maryland
Elizabeth Williams, Jr., C/F, Duke
Second Team All-ACC
Natalie Achonwa, Sr., F, Notre Dame
Kody Burke, Sr., F, NC State
Kaela Davis, Fr., G, Georgia Tech
Brittney Sykes, So., G, Syracuse
Uju Ugoka, Sr., F, Virginia Tech
Blue Ribbon Panel All-Freshman Team
Lexie Brown, Fr., G, Maryland
Kaela Davis, Fr., G, Georgia Tech
Diamond DeShields, Fr., G, North Carolina
Allisha Gray, Fr., G North Carolina
Adrienne Motley, Fr. G, Miami
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