Six Cardinals Earn Conference Awards
March 06, 2014 | Women's Basketball
March 6, 2014
Six Cardinals earned awards as the American Athletic Conference announced its annual women's basketball awards to cap the 2013-14 season and kick off the American Women's Basketball Championship in Uncasville, Conn., March 7-10.
The All-Conference First Team is highlighted by five players who were unanimous first team selections: Stefanie Dolson (UConn), Bria Hartley (UConn), Breanna Stewart (UConn), Shoni Schimmel (Louisville) and Keena Mays (SMU). Joining Schimmel on the first team is Asia Taylor and Sara Hammond. Junior Bria Smith earned second team honors. Freshman Emmonnie Henderson was named to the All-Freshman team.
Taylor was chosen as the American Most Improved Player of the Year. Dolson and Louisville redshirt senior Tia Gibbs shared American Sportsmanship Award accolades and Temple junior Rateska Brown was tabbed the American Sixth Player of the Year.
Taylor started every game for the Cardinals this season and averages 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, up from 5.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last year. She more than doubled her season totals in points, rebounds, blocks and steals from her junior year and had the best game of her career, 25 points and 15 rebounds, this season against Rutgers. She has five double-doubles this season.
Gibbs returned to the court this year after sitting out the past two seasons with injuries. She worked tirelessly in rehab after suffering shoulder and hip injuries and found her way back on the court for her final year. She is a team captain, scored a career-high 23 points at Oklahoma this season and will earn her MBA in the spring. She is averaging 8.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this year.
This season Schimmel is leading the Cardinals in scoring with 16.9 points per game. She also leads the Cardinals in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on 37.8 percent. She recently became just the second player in school history to score 2,000 career points along with former standout Angel McCoughtry. She currently ranks second on Louisville's all-time scoring list with 2,036 points.
Hammond earned her first conference honor this season after averaging 11.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. She has collected five double-doubles this season and leads the team in field goal percentage. She tied her career-high with 22 points against UCF this season and pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds against SMU.
Henderson earned all-freshman honors this season after averaging 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds. She has scored double figures seven times this season. She scored a season-high 19 points against Memphis and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds in her debut against Loyola Chicago.
The awards were voted on by the league's head coaches. The American Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year will be announced at a press conference on Friday, March 7 at Mohegan Sun Arena at 4 p.m. ET. The event will be streamed live at www.theamerican.org/dn.
American Defensive Player of the Year
Stefanie Dolson, UConn, Sr., C
American Most Improved Player of the Year
Asia Taylor, Louisville, R-Sr., F
American Sportsmanship Award
Stefanie Dolson, UConn, Sr., C
Tia Gibbs, Louisville, R-Sr., G
American Sixth Player of the Year
Rateska Brown, Temple, Jr., G
All-Conference First Team
*Stefanie Dolson, UConn, Sr., C
*Bria Hartley, UConn, Sr., G
Moriah Jefferson, UConn, So., G
*Breanna Stewart, UConn, So., F
Sara Hammond, Louisville, Jr., F
Asia Taylor, Louisville, R-Sr., F
*Shoni Schimmel, Louisville, Sr., G
Ariel Hearn, Memphis, So., G
Kahleah Copper, Rutgers, So., G
Courtney Williams, USF, So., G
*Keena Mays, SMU, Sr., G
All-Conference Second Team
Jeanise Randolph, Cincinnati, Sr., F
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, UConn, Jr., F
Kiah Stokes, UConn, Jr., C
Bria Smith, Louisville, Jr., G
Betnijah Laney, Rutgers, Jr., G/F
Tyler Scaife, Rutgers, Fr., G
Alisia Jenkins, USF, So., F
Inga Orekhova, USF, Sr., G
Akil Simpson, SMU, Sr., F
Feyonda Fitzgerald, Temple, Fr., G
Natasha Thames, Temple, R-Sr., F
All-Freshman Team
*Zykira Lewis, UCF, Fr., G
Bianca Quisenberry, Cincinnati, Fr., G
Saniya Chong, UConn, Fr., G
Emmonnie Henderson, Louisville, Fr., F
Breigha Wilder-Cochran, Memphis, Fr., G
Mooriah Rowser, Memphis, R-Fr., G
*Tyler Scaife, Rutgers, Fr., G
Ariadna Pujol, USF, Fr., G
*Kiara Perry, SMU, Fr., G
*Feyonda Fitzgerald, Temple, Fr., G
Taylor Robinson, Temple, Fr., C
[*] denotes unanimous pick
Ties are not broken
