April 3, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. – University of South Carolina senior guard Brionna Dickerson was the female recipient of the 2008-09 Brad Davis Southeastern Conference Community Service Post-Graduate Scholarship, SEC commissioner Mike Slive announced today. Dickerson and male winner Andrew Smith of Auburn were chosen by a committee of faculty athletic representatives form SEC universities. Each will receive a $6,000 post-graduate scholarship. South Carolina baseball player Jay Brown was also honored by the committee as one of 11 other male recipients of a $2,000 scholarship.
“Brionna has established a legacy of service to go with her outstanding academic and athletic performance throughout her career,” South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said. “She is a player, teammate and leader who embodies all the fundamental principles of our basketball program.”
In addition to her many athletic and academic accolades, Dickerson is a two-time SEC Community Service Team member. She has worked with Camp Sunshine for nearly a decade as a mentor for special needs adults and as a planner for special events. As a mentor, she has helped participants in the Jump Program with homework and acted as a social mentor. Dickerson has been a speaker at events by the Boys and Girls Club of South Carolina, Brockman Elementary D.A.R.E., Meadowfield Elementary and Brookland Cayce Grammar School throughout her four-year Gamecock career. Her other long-term projects include serving as a motivational speaker with City of Columbia Parks and Recreation and working as a camp counselor at the Heathwood Hall Sports Camp. Dickerson has also spent time with Children’s Hospital, Caughman Road Park Basketball League, Girl Scouts, Adopt-a-Family and the Mayor’s Breast Cancer Breakfast.
Enrolled in the University’s Honors College, Dickerson earned a spot on the ESPN The Magazine Women’s Basketball Academic All-District Team this season. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and winner of both the University Scholars and Lieber Scholar Scholarships. Dickerson has been on the Dean’s List six semesters and the President’s List one semester in addition to earning a spot on the 2006-07 and 2007-08 SEC Winter Sports Academic Honor Roll (2008-09 honors not yet announced). She will receive her bachelor of science in business administration this May. She is a double major, international business and marketing, with a minor in Spanish.
On the court, Dickerson capped her career with a season that established her among the SEC’s premier shooters. Ranked among the league’s top-10 scorers for much of the season, she scored 17 or more points in every complete SEC game she played prior to suffering a season-ending injury on Jan. 25. Dickerson netted a career-high 31 points at Ole Miss and ranked second in the league in points per SEC game at the time of her injury. At that point, she was also the league’s most prolific and accurate 3-point shooter. She finished her time in a Gamecock uniform ranked eighth in school history in career 3-point field goal percentage at .328. Her team-high 13.4 points per game this season was three points higher than her previous career high, while her 18.2 points per game in SEC play more than doubled her previous career-high output in league games.
Brown, a senior pitcher in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, has started three of the five games in which he has pitched this season and has a 1.96 ERA. A two-time member of the SEC Spring Sports Academic Honor Roll, Brown is a weekly tutor in the Midlands Reading Consortium at Watkins-Nance Elementary School. He has also worked with the Harvest Hope Food Bank and volunteered at the Martin Luther King Jr. event in Columbia.
Dickerson becomes the fifth Gamecock to earn the full $6,000 scholarship award since its inception in 1996, joining William Brown (football, 2008), Holly Hodges (diving, 2005), Mike Boynton (basketball 2004) and B.J McKie (basketball, 1999). The award, which recognizes student-athletes for their commitment to service, leadership qualities, academic achievement and athletic participation, is named for former associate commissioner Brad Davis, who succumbed to cancer on March 2 2006. He had been a member of the SEC staff since 1988, first serving as an assistant commissioner until 1994 when he was promoted to associate commissioner.
