BILLINGS — Jamie Pickens of Carroll College and NaKoda Currier of MSU-Northern were honored as the 2024 Montana AAU Little Sullivan Award winners Saturday at the DoubleTree Hotel.
Pickens, of Helena, wrapped up a standout women's basketball career at Carroll in 2023-24. Pickens was named the NAIA player of the year this past season while averaging 18.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game and shooting .511 from the floor.
She led the Saints to a 28-6 overall record and a berth in the semifinal round of the NAIA national tournament in Sioux City, Iowa. Pickens eclipsed 2,000 career points and became Carroll's all-time leading rebounder. She was twice named first-team All-American.
Currier, of Colstrip, qualified for the NAIA national tournament in 2024 at 174 pounds and was honored as the national wrestler of the week on Nov. 15, 2023, after winning the championship of the Grand View Open.
Currier was ranked in the top five at his weight class throughout the 2022-23 season, and is a two-time All-American. He was named MSU-Northern's male athlete of the year for the 2022-23 season.
This year marked the first time the awards voting was open to the public.
The other male finalists for the 2024 Little Sullivan Award were Great Falls' K.C. Buday, a wrestler at the University of Providence, Melstone's Brody Grebe, a football player at Montana State, and Ivan Roe of Manhattan, a member of the national U.S. rifle team.
The other female finalists were Missoula's Katarine Berkoff, a swimmer at North Carolina State, Crow Agency's Sydney Little Light, a distance runner at Eastern Kentucky, and Billings' Shayla Montague, a basketball player at Montana State Billings.
