ATLANTA—Oglethorpe senior Keimarya Rivera became the fifth player in program history to win the top honor in the conference on Tuesday after she was named Southern Athletic Association athlete of the year.
Rivera's recognition came alongside all-SAA first team honors, and the forward from Canton was joined by freshman Marlie Battle and junior Anna Conza as honorable mentions.
The prestigious award for Rivera provided a fitting finish to a season in which she became the SAA's all-time leading scorer; rose to fourth all-time in Oglethorpe scoring history (1,732 career points) and second all-time in Oglethorpe rebounding history (888 career rebounds); led the SAA in scoring average at 19.8 points per game, field goal percentage at 53.9 percent and blocked shots at 1.0 blocks per game; ranked second in the SAA in free throw percentage at 81.7 percent and fourth in the SAA in rebounding at 9.0 rebounds per game; tallied 11 double-doubles and won SAA athlete of the week an Oglethorpe record six times.
Rivera last week broke the SAA all-time scoring record with a 23-point effort to help the Petrels win a pivotal game at Rhodes. She passed the previous mark of 1,698 career points set by Sewanee's Bella Taylor in 2019, and Rivera has since increased her record to 1,732 after a 24-point game at Millsaps.
Rivera put up 15 20-point games and two 30-point games this season. Most notably, she had a six-game stretch of 20 points starting in late December and continuing through the middle of conference season. Rivera recorded her 30-point games back-to-back on January 30 and February 1, and they kickstarted an eight-game stretch to finish the regular season where Rivera has averaged 23.5 points per game.
Rivera's 11 double-doubles this year, four of which have come in the last five games, are tied for fourth on Oglethorpe's single-season list. The 11 this season brought her career tally to 38, ranking second all-time for a career.
Rivera is one of only nine players in Oglethorpe history to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. She also joined an elite group of Stormy Petrels who won conference athlete of the year honors: Heather Francoeur (2003/SCAC), Katie Kulavic (2008/SCAC), Savannah LeGate (2018/SAA) and Lauren Ransom (2019/SAA).
Rivera's selection to the all-SAA first team marked a career sweep of first team honors. She also four years ago was tabbed as the SAA newcomer of the year, becoming the fourth player in Oglethorpe history to earn that distinction.
Marlie Battle and Anna Conza joined Rivera on the all-SAA team, both making honorable mention. At 10.8 and 9.6 points per game, respectively, the two ranked 18th in 19th in the conference for scoring. Battle led the league in steals (3.2/game) and was sixth for assists (3.3/game) and 11th for rebounding (5.6/game). Conza ranked third in the league for 3-point field goal percentage (36.6%) and sixth for 3-pointers made per game (1.6). Battle also ranked eighth for field goal percentage at 43.3 percent.
Both Battle and Conza won all-SAA recognition for the first time.
The Petrel trio and company will take a four-game winning streak into the SAA tournament later this week, when they face Berry in Rome, Georgia. Opening tip-off of the quarterfinal game is set for Thursday, Feb. 26, at 12 p.m.
