Nansemond-Suffolk Academy junior point guard Harper Birdsong recently made school history by becoming NSA’s first athlete to win back-to-back state Player of the Year awards.

After a strong season that included helping the Lady Saints basketball team reach the state title game for the first time in school history, a state basketball committee again tapped her as the best female player in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association at the Division II level.

“I was pretty shocked, but it was really cool to get it two years in a row,” Birdsong said.

Moments later, she noted that she was happy for her teammate, junior center Caroline Hogg, who joined her on the all-state first team.

“I think she definitely deserved first team,” Birdsong said.

Nansemond-Suffolk coach Kim Aston was happy to see to both players honored.

Of Birdsong’s Player of the Year award, Aston said, “It doesn’t surprise me that she got it. I was hopeful that she would.”

Earlier, the coach said, “Obviously, Harper’s gotten a lot better, so she was a better player this year than she was last year.”

In the 2013-14 season, Birdsong averaged 15.1 points, 7.0 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals. This past season, she averaged 18.3 points, 3.2 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals.

Aston noted the drop in some of Birdsong’s averages was not her fault as she had more experienced shooters to dish the ball to last season, like Jessica Pieroni and Macy Mears.

“We used her in more of a true point guard sense last year,” Aston said. “This year, she had to score a lot of points, and she knew she had to do that and took that on.”

Birdsong said she really did not know why she won the state’s top award again.

“I just tried to work hard (last) summer.”

Aston indicated that how Birdsong spent her time during the summer was key. She spent it getting physically stronger and working on her shot.

“I think maybe it was maturity because I’ve been on varsity since eighth grade, so it’s almost like I’m a senior,” Birdsong added.

Caroline Hogg’s first team selection was the first all-state honor of her career.

“It was kind of shocked,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was a nice reward for a good season.”

Originally, Hogg had been named to the five-person all-state second team. The girls’ honors were later amended to include nine first-team selections, which bumped Hogg up.

“If there had just been five, I felt like second (team) was a great honor for her,” Aston said. “I think that she deservedly was rewarded once they made that switch.”

Hogg averaged 13.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.7 blocks this season.

“For other teams, she was a big surprise because she hadn’t produced like that in previous years,” Aston said.

Hogg said, “I think I made a big step from last year’s play,” and the committee “just saw that I kept improving.”

“She was able to alter so many teams offensively with her shot blocking ability this year,” Aston said. “There were several games this year where she had triple-doubles with points, rebounds and blocked shots.”