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June 21, 2012

Women's Basketball Athlete of the Year

By: Jimmy Robertson

Aerial Wilson | Junior | Cocoa, Fla.

After starting just five games through her first two seasons and averaging less than 15 minutes per game, Aerial Wilson was thrust into the starting point guard role this season for the Hokies and excelled.

Wilson started 29 of 30 games played and averaged a team-high 35.6 minutes per contest. She was second on the team with averages of 12.1 points and 2.9 assists per game, and she scored in double figures 18 times, which included four games with 20 points or more.

Down the stretch, the extra playing time and the stiffer ACC competition didn’t slow Wilson down, as she turned in 10 games with at least 10 points in the Hokies’ final 11 games, three of them with at least 20 points.

Those games included a 15-point effort in Tech’s 75-69 victory at No. 8 Maryland, a season-high 22 points against Boston College, a 21-point effort versus No. 17 Wake Forest and 20 points in the team’s final game against the Demon Deacons in the first round of the ACC Tournament.

She set her career high, though, in the Hokies’ first ACC game of the year at Clemson, with 24 points, and actually outscored the Tigers 18-14 in the first half. With the team’s 55-33 win over Clemson, it marked Tech’s first conference-opening win since 2007.