Sara Nord Earns Preseason All-C-USA Honors
October 30, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2002
Chicago,Ill. - TCU, which captured the 2002 C-USA regular season title, and Cincinnati, which claimed the C-USA Tournament crown have both been chosen by the 14 C-USA head coaches to win the 2002-03 regular season title. Houston's Chandi Jones, who became the fastest player in C-USA history to reach 1,000 career points last year, has been selected by the coaches as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year.
Cincinnati returns four of its starters from last year's NCAA squad, including all-preseason pick Valerie King, who led the Bearcats in scoring with 19.8 points per game. King, a 2002 first-team all-conference honoree, became the first player to win back-to-back MVP tourney awards when she led the Bearcats to the 2001 runner-up title and 2002 tourney crown. She also led C-USA in field-goal percentage (.892) and second in three-point field goal percentage (.436).
TCU return four of its top six scorers and four of its top five rebounders from last year's club. Leading the way for the Horned Frogs is preseason all-league forward Sandora Irvin. The 6-4 sophomore averaged 10.8 points and ranked second in the conference in rebounds (9.5 pg) and blocked shots (2.7 pg).
Jones was an All-American last year after ranking fifth in the nation in scoring (22.5 ppg) and leading Houston to the championship game of the WNIT. She became the 13th-fastest in Division I history to score the 1,000th point of her career last season in only her 47th collegiate game. Jones currently ranks 10th all-time in Cougar history with 1,195 points in 54 games.
Tulane's Teana McKiver returns for her senior campaign and claims her second preseason all-conference accolade. Last season, she ranked first in the league in field goal percentage (62.3), third in blocks (2.86 bpg) and fifth in scoring (16.4 ppg), helping the Green Wave to their eighth consecutive NCAA appearance.
Louisville's Sara Nord rounds out the preseason all-conference team. The 5-4 junior broke her own C-USA single season record for assists last season with 235. She is now ranked fourth on the C-USA career list with 457 and needs only 87 to break U of L's Jenny Knight's (1997-00) record of 543. Nord finished the 2001-02 season averaging 10.4 points and 6.4 assists per game.
Conference USA enjoyed one of its finest seasons in 2001-02. Cincinnati, Tulane and TCU all advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time in league history that C-USA went 3-0 in the first round of the tournament. Houston advanced to the championship game of the WNIT, losing a heartbreaker at Oregon, 54-52. It marked the first time in C-USA's seven-year existence that a conference team advanced to the title game of the WNIT.
2002-2003 PRESEASON AWARDS(as selected by the league's head coaches)
Preseason All-Conference Team
**CHANDI JONES - Houston Jr., G/F, Bay City, Texas/Bay CitySANDORA IRVIN - TCU So., F, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Ft. LauderdaleVALERIE KING - Cincinnati Jr., G, Washington Court House, Ohio/WashingtonTEANA MCKIVER - Tulane Sr., C, Beulaville, N.C./East Duplin/East CarolinaSARA NORD - Louisville Jr., G, Jeffersonville, Ind./Jeffersonville
** - Preseason Player of the Year
2002-2003 PRESEASON POLL
1. Cincinnati TCU 3. Tulane 4. Houston 5. Louisville 6. Charlotte 7. DePaul 8. Marquette 9. Memphis 10. South Florida 11. Saint Louis 12. UAB 13. Southern Miss 14. East Carolina
