View List of Players Competing in NCAA Women's Basketball Postseason (Highlighted in Boldface) (.pdf)TOWSON, Md. — Led by senior forward
Megan Frazee of Liberty University and sophomore forward
Maya Moore of the University of Connecticut, five members of the 2008-09
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women’s Basketball University Division Team will participate in the NCAA Division I Tournament that starts this weekend. The
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
® basketball teams were announced last month.
Named to the Academic All-America® University Division first team, Frazee and Moore were each honored as the Conference Player of the Year award winners from their respective leagues.
Named as the Big South Conference Player of the Year for the second time, Frazee helped Liberty win its second consecutive Big South championship.
A repeat selection as BIG EAST Player of the Year, Moore led UConn to its second straight BIG EAST championship and its 15th overall title.
Senior forward Jennifer Warkenthien, a second team Academic All-America® pick, will lead South Dakota State into the NCAA Tournament for the first time while a pair of third team selections, senior guard Shalee Lehning of Kansas State and senior forward Christina Wirth of Vanderbilt, will also be playing in the NCAA Tournament this weekend.
A Kinesiology major with a 3.91 G.P.A., Frazee paced Liberty to a 24-8 record and a win over Gardner-Webb in the Big South Conference championship game. The top scorer and rebounder in the Big South, she is averaging 20.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. In her career, she was the Big South Player of the Week a record 18 times and she was a first team All-Big South selection three times. Named as the Most Valuable Player of the Big South Tournament the last two years, she has a .534 field goal percentage and a .789 free throw mark. She is also shooting 45.8 per cent from three-point range. A native of Xenia, Ohio, she is one of three triplets on the Lady Flames’ basketball team. Last year, she was honored as the Big South Scholar-Athlete for all sports. Frazee has scored in double figures in 68 consecutive games and she will take her streak into the Flames’ NCAA Tournament first round game on Sunday. Seeded 14th in its regional, Liberty will face third-seeded Louisville in a game that will be played at Louisiana State University.
The only sophomore on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® University Division first team, Moore is a Pre-Individualized Major with a 3.74 G.P.A. Honored as the BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year the last two years, she is the leading scorer and rebounder for the University of Connecticut’s undefeated and number one-ranked team. While averaging 19.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per games, she has led UConn to a 33-0 record. The Most Valuable Player at the BIG EAST Tournament, she has a .530 field goal percentage while averaging 3.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game. A consensus first team All-American last year, she was the first freshman to be named as the BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year in 2007-08. A strong candidate for National Player of the Year honors, she reached the 1,000-point career scoring mark in her 55th career game to become the fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 points. A native of Lawrenceville, Ga., she will lead the top-seeded Huskies into a first round matchup with 16th-seeded Vermont on Sunday in Storrs, Connecticut.
An Early Childhood Education major with a 3.89 G.P.A., Warkenthien was the Summit League Player of the Year as a senior. While averaging 15.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, she led South Dakota State to a 31-2 record and its first Summit League championship. An outstanding shooter, she has a team high .513 field goal percentage and an .828 free throw mark. A native of Willow Lake, S.D., she was the Most Valuable Player at the Summit League Tournament. In three tournament games, she scored 47 points with 28 rebounds and five blocked shots. In the tournament, Warkenthien shot a perfect 20-for-20 at the free throw line. A two-time first team All-Summit League selection, Warkenthien and the Jackrabbits take a 17-game winning streak into their first NCAA Tournament. Seeded seventh, they will make their NCAA Tournament debut against tenth-seeded Texas Christian in a game that will be played at Texas Tech on Sunday.
An Electronic Journalism major with a 3.73 G.P.A., Lehning has been named first team All-Big 12 Conference the last two seasons. The only player in Big 12 history with 1,000 points, 800 rebounds and 700 assists, she is averaging 10.9 points and a team-leading 7.1 rebounds per game for Kansas State. The Wildcats’ career leader in assists, she is averaging 7.6 assists per game, second in NCAA Division I. A finalist for the Wooden Award, the Sublette, Kansas native has three “triple doubles” this year and five in her career. A strong candidate for All-American honors, she has helped the Wildcats post a 24-7 record and earn their second straight NCAA Tournament berth. Lehning will lead fifth-seeded Kansas State into a first round matchup against 12th-seeded Drexel on Saturday evening at the University of New Mexico.
Another third team Academic All-America® pick, Wirth has a double major in Human and Organizational Development and Nursing with a 3.60 G.P.A. Named first team All-Southeastern Conference the last two years, she was the winner of the SEC Scholar-Athlete Award as a senior. The leading scorer for Vanderbilt, she is averaging 15.8 points per game and has a 5.6 rebounding mark. Wirth led the Commodores to a 24-8 record and the SEC Tournament championship as a senior. A native of Mesa, Arizona, she was the Most Valuable Player at the SEC Tournament, leading Vanderbilt to a 69-61 win over Auburn in the championship game. In three tournament games, Wirth scored 61 points with 20 rebounds and seven assists. A WBCA Scholarship Award winner, she will lead fourth-seeded Vanderbilt into a first round NCAA Tournament game against 13th-seeded Western Carolina on Saturday evening at the University of New Mexico. Vanderbilt is making its tenth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 22nd overall trip.
Although West Texas A&M is playing in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, Emily Brister, the Academic All-America® of the Year in the College Division, has been watching from the sidelines. The senior guard had her college career come to an end on February 11 when she suffered a serious knee injury. An Education major with a 3.91 G.P.A., the Amarillo, Texas native was averaging 23.4 points and 3.6 steals per game. Despite missing the final three weeks of the regular season, she was named as the South Central Player of the Year for the third year in a row. During her career, she led the Lady Buffs to a four-year record of 104-18 and a pair of Lone Star Conference championships. Honored as the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year four times, she has been an honorable mention All-American three years in a row. The Lady Buffs, now 27-5 on the season, will play in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight on March 24-25-27 in San Antonio, Texas.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
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For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit
www.cosida.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dan O’Connell
Academic All-America ® Vice-Chair For Publicity/Communications
Towson University
(
doconnell@towson.edu)
(410) 704-3102 Geoff Hassard
Academic All-America ® Coordinator of Publicity
SUNY at Oneonta
(hassargj@oneonta.edu)
(607) 436-2106