Abilene Christian's Bernard Scott and West Texas A&M's Emily Brister were chosen as the 2009 Lone Star Conference Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively.  The awards were announced Tuesday following a vote of the league's sports information directors.

      ACU's Scott earned LSC top male athlete acclaim after winning the Harlon Hill Award following the Wildcats LSC championship and quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs.  WTAMU's Brister claimed the honor of top female athlete in the conference for the fourth consecutive year after helping the Lady Buffs win the LSC and NCAA South Central Regional titles.

      Scott received the most votes followed by Midwestern State basketball standout Nolan Richardson and West Texas A&M football star Charly Martin.  Brister grabbed the women's award ahead of Texas A&M-Commerce basketball star Britney Jordan and Angelo State track & field standout Adree Lakey.

      Scott completed one of the greatest careers in both LSC and Wildcat history in 2008.  He capped his career by winning the Harlon Hill Award as the top player in NCAA Division II football.  He led ACU to just the second perfect regular season in program history (10-0), the program's first outright LSC championship since 1973, a third straight berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs, a quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs, and the highest Division II ranking (No. 2) ever achieved by ACU. 

      The All-LSC South Division first-teamer and Offensive Back of the Year, was also a first team Daktronics all-Super Region 4 selection and that team's Offensive Player of the Year.  Scott was also first team all-America by the American Football Coaches' Association, Daktronics, Don Hansen's Football Gazette and d2football.com, and he won the Ron Lenz Award as the Daktronics Offensive Player of the Year.   He was selected in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.

WTAMU's Emily Brister

      Brister concluded her remarkable career as one of the most decorated women's basketball player to ever grace the LSC hardwoods. Despite a season-ending knee injury, Brister averaged 21.6 points per game and came within 125 points of breaking the LSC career scoring record as the Lady Buffs won the LSC and NCAA South Central Regional championships to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in 12 seasons. She holds 10 school records and is the only WTAMU basketball player to surpass the 2,000 points scoring mark with 2,645 points, which is the second highest total ever in the LSC.  Brister is the conference career leader in steals and made free throws as well.

      During her four years Brister received multiple honors including:  State Farm Coaches' All-America Basketball Team, WBCA/Kodak first team and all-America honorable mention (three times), Daktronics All-American first-team (three times), South Central Region Player of the Year (three times) and first team all-region (four times), LSC Female Athlete of the Year (four times), LSC South Division Player of the Year (four times) and first-team (four times), LSC Academic Player of the Year (three times) and Fred Jacoby Academic Athlete of the Year (two times).

      Here's a closer look at the voting breakdown for each award:

LSC MALE ATHLETE OF YEAR (Name, School, Year, Sport, Points):  Bernard Scott, Abilene Christian University, Sr., Football, 32; Nolan Richardson, Midwestern State University, Sr., Men's Basketball, 19; Charly Martin, West Texas A&M University, Sr., Football, 14; Ryan McWilliams, Angelo State University, Sr., Outdoor Track & Field, 4; Daniel Pazos, Cameron University, Sr., Men's Tennis, 4; Sam Powell, Northeastern State University, Sr., Men's Golf, 4; Colby Shrum, University of Central Oklahoma, Jr., Golf, 2; Jared McNeil, Tarleton State University, So., Track, 2; Jereme Johnson, Eastern New Mexico University, Jr., Baseball, 1; Ruzell McCoy, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Sr., Football, 1; Pinkey Hartline, Texas A&M-Commerce, Sr., Men's Golf, 1; Marcus Johnson, East Central University, Jr., Football, 0; Wendell Mulkey, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Sr., Men's Basketball, 0;

LSC FEMALE ATHLETE OF YEAR (Name, School, Year, Sport, Points): Emily Brister, West Texas A&M University, Sr., Women's Basketball, 28; Britney Jordan, Texas A&M-Commerce, Sr., Women's Basketball, 21; Adree Lakey, Angelo State University, Sr., Outdoor  Track & Field, 14; Destiny Brown, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Jr., Women's Basketball, Volleyball, 8; Jenna Boren, Cameron University, Sr., Softball, 5; Katie Stepp, Midwestern State University, Jr., Cross Country, 3; Stephanie Bird, Northeastern State University, Sr., Women's Golf, 3; Irene Squillaci, Abilene Christian University, Sr., Women's Tennis, 2; Lizzie Brenner, University of Central Oklahoma, Sr., Basketball, 2; Renee Renz, Texas Woman's University, Sr., Women's Basketball, 2; Samantha Lawrence, Eastern New Mexico University, Jr., Women's Soccer, 1; Kandis Brooks, Tarleton State University, Jr., Track , 1; Julia Arguello, East Central University, Jr., Tennis, 0; Stefanie Jones, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Sr., Cross Country, 0; LaKeisha Jones, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Sr., Women's Basketball, 0.