BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – First-year head women's basketball coach Lee Buchanan was named the Ohio Valley Conference's Coach of the Year on Tuesday afternoon as selected by conference head coaches and sports information directors. Seniors Ta'Kenya Nixon and Mariah King also earned All-OVC honors.
 
Buchanan guided the Panther women's basketball team to only its second OVC Regular-Season Championship in school history and second in the last four seasons. EIU finished the regular season with a 12-4 conference record, sharing the title with Tennessee Tech who clinched the east division title with a 12-4 record.
 
In 20 seasons as a head coach, Buchanan has been named coach of the year six times while capturing a total of seven regular-season championships. He has 375 career victories with head coaching stints at Brescia University (1986-98), Francis Marion (1998-2002) and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (2003-07).
 
Nixon was named to the All-OVC First Team for the fourth time in her career, becoming the first player in school history to earn all-conference first-team honors four times. The senior guard leads the team in scoring (14.5 ppg), assists (5.8 apg) and steals (2.6 spg) while ranking fourth in rebounding (6.0 rpg). She leads the conference in assists while ranking 24^th nationally.
 
Nixon currently ranks second all-time in school history in scoring with 1,863 points, needing only 29 more points to break the previous mark of 1,891 set by Rachel Galligan (2006-09). The Michigan City, Ind., native is the school's all-time leader in free throws made (527) while ranking second in assists (621) and third in steals (279).
 
King was named to All-OVC Second Team for the third consecutive season. The senior forward leads the team in field-goal percentage (.446) while ranking second in scoring (13.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (6.2 rpg).
 
King moved into the top-10 career scoring charts on Saturday when she posted her ninth career double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against SIUE. She has accumulated 1,386 points to rank 10^th all-time at EIU in scoring. The Chicago native also ranks ninth in career free throws made (277) and 10^th in career field-goals made (544).
 
UT Martin's Jasmine Newsome was tabbed the OVC Player of the Year and the OVC Defensive Player of the Year. Erika Sisk of Murray State was named OVC Freshman of the Year.
 
The Panthers open OVC Tournament action on Friday, March 8 at noon in the semifinal round of the tournament. EIU faces the winner of the No. 4 UT Martin vs. No. 5 Eastern Kentucky/No. 8 Murray State game.
 
All-OVC First Team
Jasmine Newsome, UT Martin
Ta'Kenya Nixon, Eastern Illinois
Heather Butler, UT Martin
Raven Berry, SIUE
Diamond Henderson, Tennessee Tech
 
All-OVC Second Team
Mariah King, Eastern Illinois
Alex Jones, Eastern Kentucky
Mariah Robinson, Murray State
Terrice Robinson, Morehead State
Kesi Hess, Tennessee State
 
All-OVC Newcomer Team
Erika Sisk, Murray State
Jordan Coleman, Belmont
Kara Wright, Southeast Missouri
CoCo Moore, SIUE
Tiasha Gray, Austin Peay
Lashay Davis, Tennessee Tech
 
OVC Player of the Year: Jasmine Newsome, UT Martin
OVC Freshman of the Year: Erika Sisk, Murray State
OVC Defensive Player of the Year: Jasmine Newsome, UT Martin
OVC Coach of the Year: Lee Buchanan, Eastern Illinois