Conference USA Announces Women's Basketball Award Winners
3.1.2001
Conference USA Announces Women's Basketball Award Winners
MILWAUKEE - Louisville head Coach Martin Clapp and UAB's
Deanna
Jackson headline the list of Conference USA award winners
announced by the
league tonight. A ceremony was held at the Hilton City Center in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, site of the 2001 Conference USA Tournament.
Clapp was named Coach of the Year after steering the
Cardinals to
their first outright C-USA regular season title with a 14-2
overall
conference mark. After starting the season out 0-5, Louisville
went on to
win 17 of their last 19 games, and finished 13-0 at home this
season. In
Clapp's first year as sole head coach, he led the team to a 19-8
overall
record, while earning the No. 1 seed in the C-USA Tournament.
After averaging 25.3 points and 11.6 rebounds, Jackson
earned Player
of the Year honors as well as a spot on the All-Conference First
Team. The
6-2 junior forward has recorded 18 double-doubles this season
after leading
the nation last season with 24. She became the school's all-time
leading
shot blocker with 110 career blocks. Jackson is ranked second in
the nation
in scoring and sixth in rebounding.
Joining Jackson on the first team is Tulane's senior
center Janell
Burse, senior forward Tiffany Adkins of Memphis, along with
Charlotte senior
guard Tonya Phifer, Houston freshman forward Chandi Jones and
freshman guard
Sara Nord of Louisville. Burse leads the league in blocked shots
(61) and
ranks second in rebounding (10.6) and first in field goal
percentage (.603).
Adkins ranks third in the league in scoring, averaging 18.3 points
and has
posted seven double-doubles this season. Phifer paced the 49ers,
leading the
team in scoring at 17.2 points per game and ranks in the top 10 on
C-USA's
all-time list in scoring (1,470), steals (209), and assists (341).
Before
suffering a season ending knee injury, Jones ranked second in the
league in
scoring, averaging 21.5 points and was the nation's leading
freshman scorer.
Nord recorded the school's first ever triple double and is second
on the
team in scoring, averaging 14.0 points, and leads the league in
assists
(210). The 5-4 freshman broke C-USA's single-season assist record
in league
games with 132 and has recorded six double-doubles this year.
The All-Conference second team includes: South Florida
sophomore
guard Aiya Shepard, junior guard Marju Sober of Louisville, senior
forward
Monet Sykes of Houston, senior forward Mia Thrash of UAB, and
DePaul junior
forward Lenae Williams.
Named to the All-Conference third team were a pair of
Marquette
players, senior guard Heidi Bowman and junior center Sarah
Zawodny, along
with Tulane junior guard Sarah Goree, sophomore guard Christan
Shelton of
Saint Louis and Tulane sophomore forward Gwen Slaughter.
Houston forward Chandi Jones was named Freshman of the
Year after
guiding Houston to a 10-6 conference record and its first ever bye
in the
Conference USA Tournament. Jones paced all C-USA freshman in
scoring with
429 points and posted a career-high 32 points in Houston's upset
win over
then No. 9 Louisiana Tech. Joining Jones on the All-Freshman team
is Sara
Nord of Louisville, Valerie King of Cincinnati, Princess Swilley
of Memphis
and Natasha Thomas of UAB.
The league's Sixth Player of the Year and Defensive Player
of the
Year awards went to a pair of Tulane players. Teana McKiver earned
the Sixth
Player award after averaging 7.8 points and recording 47 blocks
this season.
For the third straight year Janell Burse was named Defensive
Player of the
Year, leading the league in blocked shots, averaging 2.18. Burse
has blocked
a total of 243 shots in her career, making her C-USA all-time
leader.
Conference USA award winners were selected by a panel
including the
league's head coaches, sports information directors and media
representatives.
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