BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Southwestern Athletic Conference has named three lady hornets to their 2022 All-SWAC preseason teams. Ayana Emmanuel gets the first team nod while Shmya Ward and Jayla Crawford were tabbed All-SWAC second team. The all-conference honors and preseason poll was voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.  

Returning senior guard Ayanna Emmanuel looks to continue to build on her resume at Alabama State after garnering First Team All-Conference and BOXTOROW All-American selections to end the 2021 campaign. The Pompano Beach native averaged a team-high 16.8 points per game last season with seven 20-plus point performances, including a career-high 41 points against Bethune-Cookman (Feb. 21) and 26 points in the conference championship game against Jackson State. 

Redshirt junior Shmya Ward gets the preseason Second Team nod after averaging 13 points per game last season while shooting 53 percent from the field and tallying 17 blocks for Alabama State. Her fellow teammate Jayla Crawford finds herself on the preseason Second Team as well. Crawford averaged 10.9 points per game with a season-high 25 points in a win against Mississippi Valley State (Feb. 14). 

The Alabama State women's basketball team kicks off the 2022 campaign in Dallas, Texas at Southern Methodist University on Monday, November 7, 2022, inside Moody Coliseum at 4 p.m.