VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off the first Elite Eight appearance since 1984, Valdosta State women's basketball graduate student Kwajelin Farrar was named Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) First Team All-America, the organization announced Wednesday.  
 
Farrar is one of just two players whose teams qualified for the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eight to earn first team honors by the WBCA.  North Georgia's Julianne Sutton also earned first team honors and was named the 2022 WBCA NCAA Division II Player of the Year. 
 
Along with Farrar and Sutton, the first team is comprised of Abby Beeman of Shepherd, Makaila Cange of Lander, Nija Collier of Central Missouri, Brooke Olson of Minnesota-Duluth, Dyani Robinson of Texas A&M-Commerce, Paige Robinson of Drury, Dejah Terrell of California (Pa.) and Jaelencia Williams of Union.
 
The WBCA presents the Player of the Year award annually to the top player in five of the six WBCA membership divisions (NCAA Divisions II, and III, NAIA, two-year college and high school). The Player of the Year and the 10-member Coaches' All-America team in each division are selected by a committee of WBCA member coaches in that division. The Wade Trophy is presented to the best player in NCAA Division I.
 
Along with Farrar and Williams from the Gulf South Conference, Haley Schubert of Lee earned WBCA Honorable Mention All-America honors, while Tampa's Aliyah Abney from the South Region also was named to the honorable mention team.  
 
Farrar, a native of Grovetown, Ga., capped an outstanding two-year career for the red and black.  She became just the seventh Lady Blazer to earn WBCA First Team All-America honors in program history in 2020-21, while she is the third Lady Blazer to earn the honor multiple times, Susan Taylor (1978-79) and Shannon Williams (1988-90).  The elite list includes; Carol Chason (1979), Janice Washington (1984), Candance Fincher (1987) and Dawn Wynn (1995), along with Farrar, Taylor and Williams.  Prior to the formation of the WBCA, it was called Kodak All-America and Chason and Taylor were Kodak First Team All-America selections. 
 
Along with the those mentioned above, Sue Ann Christie, who played for VSU from 1974-78, Diedre Williams (1992-96), Kathy Kennedy (1993-97), Tracy Sprolden (1997-2001), Carley Kuhns (Peterson) (2004-08), Brittany Ferguson (2010-2012) and Madi Mitchell (2015-2018) also earned WBCA All-America honors.  They were either second team, third team or honorable mention during their time in Titletown.
 
This season, Farrar earned Gulf South Conference First Team honors, GSC All-Tournament honors, Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) First Team All-Region and NCAA South Region Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.  She played in all 32 games with 30 starts for the Lady Blazers, helping the team to a 26-6 record, matching the most wins in a season since 2007-08.  She led the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game and rebounding at 8.0 per contest.  Farrar went 203 of 360 from the field (.564), made 66 free throws and one 3-pointer.  Farrar dished out 54 assists, recorded 33 steals and had a team-high 24 blocks.  Farrar led the team with eight double-doubles for the year, including a season-high 16 rebounds against Benedict (1/26/22) and a season-high 23 points against Shorter (12/11/21).  She scored a career-high 473 points this season.
 
Farrar finished third in the GSC in field goal attempts (360), while her 203 made field goals is good for 31^st nationally and tops in the league.  She finished third in the GSC in field goal percentage (.564) for 16^th nationally.  Farrar was third in the GSC in offensive rebounds per game (3.6) for 41^st nationally, while she was fourth in the GSC in total rebounds (255).  Farrar finished fifth in the GSC in blocked shots (24).  
 
For her stand out career at both VSU and South Carolina Aiken, she played in 141 games and scored 2,121 career points for a 14.9 average.  She made 897 field goals for her career in 1,577 attempts for a .569 field goal percentage. She recorded 1,379 rebounds for a 9.8 average, while recording 175 assists, 118 steals and 190 blocks.  Among active career leaders in the NCAA, Farrar is fifth in D2 in points, third in rebounds, fourth in 2,000 points & 1,000 rebounds, second in field goals made in D2 and fifth among all divisions.  She finished her career with 64 double-doubles for fourth in D2 and fifth in all divisions.