Ole Miss forward Cotie McMahon named SEC Newcomer of the Year, First Team All-SEC

The Ole Miss women’s basketball team might have had a totally different 2025-2026 season if Cotie McMahon had not transferred in last offseason.

Luckily for head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin she did and on Tuesday earned some Southeastern Conference postseason hardware.

The league offense announced its All-SEC teams along with the postseason awards. McMahon was named this season’s Newcomer of the Year as well as a First Team All-SEC honor. She was the only Ole Miss player to be named All-SEC.

Coming in from Ohio State after three seasons with the Buckeyes, McMahon became an immediate impact player and showed why McCuin made her the centerpiece of one of the nation’s top transfer classes last Summer.

McMahon is the first Ole Miss player in program history to be named Newcomer of the Year. She is also the first Rebel to be selected First Team All-SEC since Madison Scott and Marquesha Davis in 2024.

During the regular season McMahon earned SEC Player of the Week honors three times, averaging 21 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in conference play. For the overall season she averaged 19.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

Over the last three and a half games of the season McMahon has had to adapt to a new role in the absence of Sira Thienou. The sophomore guard has been out since suffering a knee injury in the game against LSU, causing McMahon to not be the one running the offense at the moment.

“Sira impacts us so much that Cotie can’t even play the point,” McCuin said last Sunday. “That’s where when we were making our runs, Cotie was at the point.”

McMahon is primed to be the latest WNBA draft pick for Ole Miss next month.

The Rebels are gearing up for another run through the NCAA Tournament but McMahon is high on the WNBA Draft mock boards.

She is looking to be the ninth player in program history to be selected in the WNBA Draft and fourth player coached by McCuin.

ESPN’s latest mock draft has McMahon going as the sixth overall pick and selected by the Toronto Tempo, the league’s newest expansion team. If she goes in the first round it will be the third of four players taken in the first 12 picks in the McCuin era, joining Shakira Austin and Marquesha Davis.

Below are the SEC Postseason Awards and All-SEC Teams

Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Karly Weathers, Alabama

Player of the Year – Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

Freshman of the Year – Aubrey Galvan, Vanderbilt

Newcomer of the Year – Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss

Defensive Player of the Year – Raven Johnson, South Carolina

Sixth-Woman of the Year – MiLaysia Fulwiley, LSU

Coach of the Year – Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt

First Team

Liv McGill, Florida

Dani Carnegie, Georgia

Clara Strack, Kentucky

Flau’jae Johnson, LSU

Mikaylah Williams, LSU

Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss

Raegan Beers, Oklahoma

Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

Madison Booker, Texas

Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

Second Team

Jessica Timmons, Alabama

Tonie Morgan, Kentucky

Grace Slaughter, Missouri

Raven Johnson, South Carolina

Tessa Johnson, South Carolina

Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina

Madina Okot, South Carolina

Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma

Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee

Rori Harmon, Texas

Ny’Ceara Pryor, Texas A&M

All-Defensive

Clara Strack, Kentucky

Madison Francis, Mississippi State

Raven Johnson, South Carolina

Rori Harmon, Texas

Ny’Ceara Pryor, Texas A&M

All-Freshman

ZaKiyah Johnson, LSU

Madison Francis, Mississippi State

Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma

Mia Pauldo, Tennessee

Aubrey Galvan, Vanderbilt