THE FLATS – Georgia Tech junior guard Kara Dunn has been named the Atlanta Tipoff’s Club 2025 Georgia Women’s College Player of the Year, as announced by the organization on Friday. In addition, head coach Nell Fortner was tabbed the Whack Hyder Georgia Women’s College Coach of the Year.
An all-Atlantic Coast Conference first team selection, Dunn was a dominant presence for Georgia Tech all season and was one of two Jackets to start all 33 games. Dunn led Georgia Tech offensively, averaging 15.5 points and finished second in rebounding, pulling down 5.8 rebounds per game. She led the Yellow Jackets with 93 free throws made and scored in double-figures in all but six games.
Overall, Dunn registered nine games with 20 or more points, tallied three double-doubles and scored a season-high 33 points against Virginia Tech.
Dunn becomes the 12th Yellow Jacket to earn Atlanta Tipoff Club Women’s College Player of the Year, and the first since Lorela Cubaj was a back-to-back honoree in 2021 and 2022.
Fortner guided Georgia Tech to a 22-11 overall record for the 2024-25 season and led the Yellow Jackets to the 12th program berth into the NCAA Tournament. Tech spent 11 weeks ranked in the Associated Press national poll, climbing as high as No. 13 for three-straight weeks. The Yellow Jackets opened the season going 15-0, marking the best start in program history and the best start by an ACC team since 2017-18. With its win against Boston College on Feb. 9, the Yellow Jackets hit 20 wins on the season (20-4), marking the quickest a team reached the mark in Georgia Tech women’s basketball program history in the NCAA era.
This marks Fortner’s second honor by the Atlanta Tipoff Club as she first earned the recognition in 2019-20.
GEORGIA TECH WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CELEBRATES 50 YEARS
Georgia Tech is celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s basketball on The Flats this season. Under the direction of coach Jim Culpepper, Georgia Tech competed its first year in the Georgia Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (GAIAW) in 1974-75 before joining the ACC in 1979-80. Tech has seen many highlights over 50 years, including playing in the NCAA Tournament 11 times, with two Sweet 16 appearances (2012, 2021), and producing nine WNBA draft picks, featuring first round draft picks Alex Montgomery and Sasha Goodlett. In its first postseason berth in school history, Georgia Tech captured the 1992 National Women’s Invitational Tournament. Currently in its sixth season under head coach Nell Fortner, the Yellow Jackets have reach postseason play three times in the last five years.
ABOUT THE ATLANTA TIPOFF CLUB
Founded during the 1956-57 season, the Atlanta Tipoff Club is committed to promoting the game of basketball and recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of those who make the game so exciting. The Atlanta Tipoff Club administers the Naismith Awards, the most prestigious national honors in all of college and high school basketball. Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, the family of Naismith Awards annually recognizes the most outstanding men’s and women’s college and high school basketball players and coaches. Other Naismith Awards are presented to the men’s and women’s college basketball defensive players of the year, as well as lifetime achievement awards to basketball officials and outstanding contributors to the game. UCLA’s Lew Alcindor received the first Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy in 1969, while the late Anne Donovan (Old Dominion) was the inaugural women’s recipient in 1983. Corporate partners of the Naismith Awards include AXIA Time, Jersey Mike’s, MOLECULE, Sharpie and Werner Ladder. For more information, visit www.naismithtrophy.com.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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