Candace Parker of Tennessee, this year’s University Division Academic All-America of the Year, will be one of seven members of the 2008 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America® team to compete in this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Parker is the only member of the first team who will be competing, but will be joined by four second team members and two third team selections. The Academic All-America® team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Parker, a leading candidate for National Player of the Year honors, averages 21.3 points and 8.4 rebounds a game while shooting .548 from the field. She also has 85 assists, 76 blocked shots, and 72 steals for the 30-2 Lady Vols. In the classroom, the junior from Naperville, Illinois, carries a 3.35 grade point average in sports management.
Parker’s teammate at Tennessee, Nicky Anosike, a senior from Staten Island, NY, was a second team selection. She has a 3.77 GPA while juggling four majors (sociology, criminal justice, political science, and legal studies) and on the court averages 8.9 points and 7.2 rebounds a game with 70 assists, 33 blocked shots, and 56 steals. Parker and Anosike will lead the top-seeded Lady Vols against Oral Roberts in the first round.
Liberty’s Megan Frazee joined Anosike on the second team. The junior from Xenia, Ohio is a kinesiology major with a 3.91 GPA. She’s averaged 18.6 points and 9.5 rebounds for the 28-3 Lady Flames with shooting percentages of .511 from the field, .352 from three-point range, and .873 from the free throw line. Frazee also has 82 assists for Liberty, who enters the tournament as a 12th seed and faces Old Dominion in round one.
Another second team selection, Danielle Green of Oklahoma State leads the Cowgirls into the tournament as a third seed. At 25-7, they’ll take on East Tennessee State in the first round. Green has averaged 13.6 points and 7.4 rebounds a game and also has 84 assists. She shoots .491 from the field, including .400 from three-point range. The senior from Philadelphia is a education major with a 3.76 GPA.
The fourth second team member to make the NCAA field is Maryland’s Crystal Langhorne. A communication major with a 3.43 GPA, Langhorne has averaged 16.7 points and 9.2 rebounds a game while shooting an impressive .646 from the field. The senior from Willingboro, NJ is Maryland’s all-time leader in scoring and rebounding and leads her 30-3, top-seeded Terps into a first round match-up with Coppin State.
DePaul’s Allie Quigley and Sarah-Jo Lawrence of George Washington are third team selections who are headed into the tournament.
Quigley, a senior from Joliet, Illinois, averages 19.5 points and 5.1 rebounds a game and has 120 assists as well. She’s a .355 shooter from behind the arc and makes 86.5% of her free throws. A physical education major with a 3.72 GPA, Quigley and her Blue Demons will take on Marist in the tournament’s first round. DePaul, 20-11, is a 10th seed.
Lawrence’s 25-6 George Washington team enters the tournament with a sixth seed and will face Auburn in round one. The Rhoadesville, Virginia senior is a communications and sociology major who carries a 3.85 GPA. On the court, she averages 12.9 points a game and has dished out 120 assists.
In addition, five student-athletes who were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America men’s basketball team in the college division have already participated in the NCAA Division II and III tournaments this season. They are Anna Atkinson (Wingate), Emily Brister (West Texas A&M), Katie LaViolette (Concordia-St. Paul) and Michelle Steuve (Emporia State) in Division II and Tarra Richardson (McMurry) in Division III).
For further information, contact Dick Lipe (
rlipe@bentley.edu, 781-891-2334) or Dave Wrath (
pewrath@augustana.edu).