Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s girls’ basketball team had two clear go-to players this season, and coaches around the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools ensured they got their due recognition.

Lady Saints junior point guard Harper Birdsong was named TCIS Player of the Year, and junior center Caroline Hogg was named to the all-conference first team.

The graduation of stars like Jessica Pieroni and Macy Mears after last season meant the attention Birdsong got from opposing defenses would only intensify this season.

“She faced double teams and box-and-one defenses and even sometimes triple teams in every conference game this year,” NSA coach Kim Aston said.

Despite the pressure, Birdsong is still averaging 18 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, shooting 55 percent from the field and 89 percent at the free throw line.

Aston hoped her fellow coaches in the conference would do the right thing when voting for player honors.

“I felt like they got it right with her being the Player of the Year,” she said.

“I thought it was awesome,” Birdsong said. “It’s a really cool award.”

She can add it to a collection of honors in her career that includes a state-level Player of the Year award that she said she was shocked to receive last year and three all-conference first team selections, including one this year.

Birdsong said she looks at the defenses specially designed to stop her as the ultimate compliment and thinks it makes her a better player, though they are tough.

“I just think that, skill-wise, she’s the most refined player in the TCIS,” Aston said. “Her offensive game doesn’t really have a weakness that stands out.”

Caroline Hogg’s first-team selection represented the first all-conference honor of her career and served as a fitting accompaniment to her breakout season.

“I think she definitely deserved it, and I think that she has continued to improve each year and all the coaches recognized that,” Aston said. “Both her and Harper have been on the varsity team since their eighth-grade year.”

Aston said that entering this season, she thought Hogg needed to average 10 to 12 points a game. The 6-foot-4-inch center is averaging 14.5 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks a game, shooting 48 percent from the field and 79 percent at the free throw line.

Birdsong and Hogg helped Nansemond-Suffolk excel during the 2014-15 regular season, during which the Lady Saints went 18-4 overall and 7-1 in the conference.