DAHLONEGA – The No. 6 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's basketball team had two players named to the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Southeast All-Region Team on Thursday. 

Graduate guard Caroline Martin was named to the D2CCA All-Region First Team while graduate forward Emily Trushel was named to the All-Region Second Team. As the leading total point scorer among the all-region selections, Martin was also named the 2025 D2CCAA Southeast Region Player of the Year.

Martin and Trushel have each been key cogs in elevating UNG to one of its best seasons in program history. At 29-2, the Nighthawks hold the program record for most wins through the first 31 games in a season. UNG swept the conference titles with its fifth PBC Regular-Season and Tournament Championships in program history. 

Now, the Nighthawks look to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament as the host and top seed of the 2025 NCAA Southeast Regional which begins on Friday, March 14.

This season, Martin led UNG in scoring at 16.9 points per game while averaging 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals. Her efforts earned the title of 2025 PBC Player of the Year and spots on the PBC All-Conference First Team and All-Tournament Team. 

Martin became the seventh player in conference history to earn an all-conference selection in four different years this season. She also became just the second player in league history to win Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year Awards in career. In the 2024-25 season she was a four-time PBC Player of the Week, the most in a season in school history. 

Statistically she topped the conference ranking second in points, field goal percentage and field goals made. She also ranked third in points per game, steals, three pointers per game and free throws made. 

Martin's do-it-all effort did not stop in the scoring categories this season as she also finished fifth in steals per game and defensive rebounds per game, while landing sixth in assists per game within the conference.

This is Martin's second D2CCA all-region honor of her career and her first-ever appearance on the first team. 

For Trushel, Thursday marks her second career appearance on the D2CCA All-Region Second Team list. She earned a spot among the conference's top performers in 2023 during her final season at USC Aiken before transferring to North Georgia.

At 14.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists on the season, Trushel's list of accolades and accomplishments reads like a wholesale grocery store receipt. 

The Brentwood, Tenn. native's year was headlined by a career-high 33-point performance against USC Beaufort back on Feb. 15. In the win, Trushel went 10-for-14 from the field, 6-for-9 from three-point range and 7-for-7 at the stripe in what was the second-highest scoring performance in the conference this year. 

At the conclusion of the regular season she earned a spot on the PBC All-Conference First Team for the third conference postseason acclaim in her career. With 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting and six three pointers in the PBC Tournament Championship game against Georgia Southwestern, it was no surprise that Trushel earned a spot on the 2025 PBC All-Tournament team as well. 

Trushel has established herself as arguably the best all-around shooter in the country this season. The 5-foot-10 forward stretches the floor remarkably well with a 46.1 percent mark from deep range this year which ranks second in NCAA Division II. She also knocked down 88 percent of her free throws this season which is 13th in the country. Finally, she converted on 50.8 percent of all field goal attempts this year. The NCAA requires players to knock down at least 5 field goals per game to qualify for individual field goal percentage rankings. Trushel averages 4.9 makes per game. With three more makes, she would rank first in the PBC (thus leading the conference in all three shooting categories) and 39th nationally in field goal percentage.

Trushel also sits among the conference's best in assists, assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio where she ranks third in each category. 

Led by its standout veterans and now all-region selections, UNG follows Martin and Trushel into the NCAA postseason this weekend. The Nighthawks will take on eighth-seeded UNC Pembroke in the First Round on Friday, March 14 at 5 p.m. from Lynn Cottrell Arena at the UNG Convocation Center. 

D2CCA All-Region Teams

Caroline Martin, North Georgia (Southeast Region Player of the Year)
Annalise Malone, Young Harris
Destiny Garrett, Georgia Southwestern State
Diamond McDowell, Anderson (S.C.)
Ndidiamaka Ndukwe, Georgia Southwestern State

Emily Trushel, North Georgia
Peyton Nation, Belmont Abbey
Trinity Adams, Francis Marion
Quadaija Langley, Lander
Zamiya Passmore, Anderson (S.C.)