CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Senior center Keyona Bryant (Springdale, Md.) of Saint Augustine's College was named female winner of the CIAA Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Thursday (March 1). She was honored before the final quarterfinal game of the night between Shaw University and Fayetteville State University at the CIAA Tournament.

Bryant is the first student-athlete from St. Aug to win the award. This is the fourth year the award has recognized stellar CIAA senior basketball student-athletes.

Bryant and male winner Paul Goldsmith of Elizabeth City State University received their awards at midcourt inside Time Warner Cable Arena. After the presentation, Bryant posed for photos with St. Aug President Dianne Boardley Suber, athletic director George Williams and head women's basketball coach Rachel Bullard.

"Keyona exemplifies all that you can hope for in a student-athlete," Dr. Suber said. "She represents well Saint Augustine's College, the CIAA and the NCAA Division II institutions both on and off the court. She is a stellar student-athlete."

The award is given to the top male and female senior basketball student-athlete who best exemplifies excellence in the areas often referred to as the four C's: Classroom, Character, Community and Competition. The acronym in CLASS stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.

“I feel blessed to win the award because it represents character and athletics,” Bryant said

The award is the latest of many for Bryant, who finished her spectacular four-year career at Saint Augustine's College as the school's modern career scoring leader (1,601 points). A communications major, she successfully recovered from a season-ending knee injury suffered her junior year and a car accident over the Christmas break to win the 2012 CIAA women's basketball player of the year award.

Bryant led the conference in scoring (17.0) average and ranked third in rebounding (9.7). Those numbers ranked her among the top 50 Division II scorers and rebounders entering the CIAA Tournament. She also is a member of the Lady Falcons' basketball team which won the CIAA team highest grade point average award for women's basketball. A two-time team captain, Bryant and her teammates served as volunteer instructors at a basketball clinic conducted at the Raleigh (N.C.) Girls Club. She taught girls ages 6-13 to work hard, master fundamentals and achieve academically.

"It has been an absolute pleasure to coach Keyona," Bullard said. "The fight she showed in coming back from knee injury and the accident speaks volumes about her. She is absolutely amazing."

The male and female winners were determined through a voting process that ran concurrent with the basketball season and was divided into three categories: 1) online fan voting, 2) coaches, and 3) media. Each category accounted for one third the total vote.