PRESS RELEASE

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The University of North Georgia women’s basketball program was well represented on the Peach Belt Conference postseason awards list as Julianne Sutton earned Co-Player of the Year honors and Buffie Burson was named Coach of the Year. Additionally, Sutton and Caroline Martin earned first team All-Conference honors, while Abbie Franklin was tabbed to the second team.

A senior forward from Flowery Branch, Georgia, Sutton, along with Lander’s Makaila Cangé, becomes the sixth player in PBC history to repeat as the PBC Player of the Year and the first to do so in non-consecutive seasons. This year, she became the only player in PBC history to reach 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds and is currently fourth all time in career points and seventh in career rebounds. Sutton is currently ranked seventh in the PBC in scoring, fourth in rebounding, second in field goal percentage and fifth in free throw percentage.

In her 27th season at North Georgia, Burson led the Nighthawks to the PBC regular-season championship this year, their fourth regular-season title overall and third in the last five years. Her team is the No. 1 seed and host of this week’s PBC Tournament where they are the defending champions and are trying to win their fourth tournament title in five seasons. UNG has been nationally ranked in every WBCA poll this season, rising as high as No. 4 in the nation and among the top 10 for seven weeks; UNG is also ranked atop in the NCAA Southeast Region poll. The Nighthawks lead the PBC in scoring defense, made three-pointers, rebound margin and is ranked in the top three in scoring margin, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage. She wins the PBC Coach of the Year honor for the fourth time, the most ever among women’s basketball coaches.

Martin is second on the team in scoring at 15 points per contest and shoots at a 41 percent clip from beyond the three point line. Last year’s Freshman of the Year, she is an All-Conference honoree for the second time in her career after being named to the Third Team last year.

Franklin averages 8.8 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. She leads the league in assist/turnover ratio at 2.6, nearly a full assist more than the closest player, and is second in the conference in assists per contest at 5.6. She also plays the third most minutes per game in the league. A preseason All-Conference honoree this year, Franklin was named to the 2019-20 All-Conference second team and also won Freshman of the Year honors in 2017-18.

North Georgia will take on Columbus State Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. inside the Convocation Center in the PBC semifinals. Tickets are on sale through the Peach Belt Conference website.