Jenaya Wade-Fray’s college career officially came to an end as the setting sun poured through the stained glass windows of the Lindsay Street Hall with, players, coaches, staff, supporters and fans of Chattanooga basketball gathered to draw a close to another year of University of Tennessee Chattanooga Basketball.
Emcee Jim Reynolds got the evening moving along with the introduction of Chattanooga’s Women’s Head Coach Wes Moore who praised his team and thanked their parents. Moore reminisced over the ups and downs of the season and what they meant to the team.
"The greatest win of the season was the win in the New York area against Richmond. We were down by 14 with eight minutes to play and came back to win the game in double overtime. It showed the heart and it showed the fight of this team."
Determination and desire perhaps played a role in the best game of the postseason with Chattanooga’s win over Samford in the finals.
"We were down by 11 and I was clueless. This team stepped up and made big plays and was determined not to lose."
Following his praise of his team, Moore handed out the annual awards with senior Shanara Hollinquest taking home the awards for Leading Scorer with 17 points per game, Field Goal Percentage with 52% and Top Rebounder with 8.9. She was also named the Most Valuable Player of the season by Chattanooga.
Kayla Christopher was awarded top honors for Free Throw Percentage at 84% and 3-Point Shooting Percentage at 42%. Senior Wade-Fray was honored with the Best Defense Award. Senior Megan Rollins took home the Coach's Award as voted on by her teammates and Tagan Hatchett, with a GPA of 3.77, grabbed the Academic Award.
Moore then handed out the players All-Conference and All-Tournament awards as well as their Southern Conference Champion plaques and NCAA Tournament watches.
The seniors were honored by each coach as all were able to say goodbye to five seniors who made an impact on their particular program in many different ways. It was said that Wade-Fray played with an "island attitude" but was counted on to guard the other team's best player. She closed out her career having played 131 games at Chattanooga, more than any other player in school history. She was 12th in scoring all-time for Chattanooga with 1,351 points and ranked 10th in assists with 280. She ranks third all-time at Chattanooga and in the Southern Conference for 3-pointers made with 214 over her career.
