Tulsa Women's Hoops Sweeps Conference USA Postseason Awards
3/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2006
Dallas - Tulsa head coach Charlene Thomas-Swinson and Golden Hurricane junior forward Jillian Robbins headline the list of Conference USA women's basketball award winners announced by the league today in Dallas, site of the 2006 C-USA Women's Basketball Championship. The championship begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday at SMU's Moody Coliseum.
Tulsa placed three players on the all-conference teams, including Robbins on the first team, senior Megan Moody on the second team and senior Kara Pongonis-Paslay on the third team. TU's three selections are the most the Golden Hurricane has ever place on all-conference teams.
Thomas-Swinson is in the midst of a highly-successful first season as Tulsa's head coach, leading the Golden Hurricane to a 22-5 record and the school's first-ever conference championship. TU finished 13-3 in league play, the most conference wins the school has ever produced, and the team is the No. 1 seed in this week's C-USA Championship. Thomas-Swinson, who helped turn around the St. John's program during a three-year stint as head coach in the late 1990's before serving as an assistant in the WNBA and at Florida, is the first person to earn Conference USA Coach of the Year honors in their first year at a school.
Robbins is a three-time all-conference first team selection performer and is on pace to become just the third player in C-USA history to lead the league in scoring (18.0) and rebounding (13.6) in the same season. A record six-time winner of the Conference USA Player of the Week award, Robbins led the country in rebounding for seven straight weeks earlier this season and currently places second. She is one of just two players in the nation to have two games with 20 or more points and 20 or more rebounds in the same game, setting single-game rebounding records in two different arenas in the process. In addition to Robbins' rebounding prowess, she leads the conference in steals (77) and is second in blocked shots (64) and field goal percentage (.558). Along with being named Player of the Year, Robbins took home Defensive Player of the Year honors. It marks the second straight season that a player has earned both of those awards (TCU's Sandora Irvin). Robbins was two-time performer on the Western Athletic Conference first team and all-defensive squads the last two tears.
Joining Robbins on the first team is Rice's Lauren Neaves, the league's preseason Player of the Year, Houston's Tye Jackson, SMU's Janielle Dodds and UAB's Carmen Guzman, the only All-Conference performer that played in C-USA last season.
Moody, 6'2" forward from Frankston, Victoria, Australia, is a first-time selection to an all-conference team. She ranks second on the team in scoring (12.3), three-point field goals (47) and third in rebounding (4.4). Moody, the school's sixth all-time leading scorer, reached double figures in 17 contests this season and notched one double-double.
A 5'5" guard from Springdale, Arkansas, Pongonis-Paslay is a first time performer on an all-conference team. She is the team's top assists leader with 138 and is just seven assists shy of breaking the school's single season mark. Pongonis-Paslay also leads TU in three-pointers (64) and is fourth-leading scorer (9.7). She was named the Conference USA Player of the Week earlier this season and leads the league and ranks seventh nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.457). Pongonis-Paslay reached double figures 14 times and chalked up her first career double-double with a 16-point, 11-assist effort at Southern Miss.
Just three of the fifteen All-Conference honorees were seniors, with six underclassmen included among those that received recognition. Six of the fifteen all-league picks hail from the Houston area and seven are from the state of Texas. Regular season champion Tulsa was the only school to have three All-Conference performers, while East Carolina, Houston, Rice and SMU all placed two players on the all-league team.
Conference USA award winners were selected by a panel including the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media representatives.
2005-06 CONFERENCE USA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL AWARD WINNERS All-Conference First Team Janielle Dodds, SMU P 6-3 So. Fairfax, Va./West Springfield Carmen Guzman, UAB G 5-9 Jr. New York, N.Y./Murry Bergtraum Tye Jackson, Houston G 5-10 So. Houston, Texas/Purdue Lauren Neaves, Rice F 6-2 Jr. Cooper City, Fla./Cooper City Jillian Robbins, Tulsa F 6-1 Jr. Spring, Texas/KleinSecond Team Cherie Mills, East Carolina C 6-4 Jr. Ayden, N.C./Ayden Grifton Megan Moody, Tulsa F 6-2 Sr. Frankston, Victoria, Australia/Frankston Kendra Reed, Southern Miss G/F 5-10 Fr. Bay St. Louis, Miss./Bay St. Louis Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, Marshall G 5-8 Sr. Houston, Texas/Lutheran North Jasmine Young, East Carolina G 5-5 Fr. Richmond, Va./Monacan
Third Team Sarah Davis, SMU F 6-2 Sr. Houston, Texas/Cypress Krystal Frazier, Rice G 5-8 Jr. Houston, Texas/North Shore Sha'Ratta Hawkins, Houston G/F 6-0 Fr. Houston, Texas/Jesse Jones Kara Pongonis-Paslay, Tulsa G 5-5 Sr. Springdale, Ark./Springdale Jennifer Sands, Tulane G/F 6-0 So. Dallas, Texas/Lincoln
All-Freshman Team Sha'Ratta Hawkins, Houston G/F 6-0 Fr. Houston, Texas/Jesse Jones Brittney Jones, UAB G 5-7 Fr. Chicago, Ill./Marshall Ashley Langford, Tulane G 5-5 Fr. Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg Kendra Reed, Southern Miss G/F 5-10 Fr. Bay St. Louis, Miss./Bay St. Louis Jasmine Young, East Carolina G 5-5 Fr. Richmond, Va./Monacan
Coach of the Year Charlene Thomas-Swinson, Tulsa
Player of the Year Jillian Robbins, Tulsa
Defensive Player of the Year Jillian Robbins, Tulsa
Freshman of the Year Kendra Reed, Southern Miss Jasmine Young, East Carolina
Sixth Player of the Year Paris Leonard, Memphis
