March 5, 2008

2008 Atlantic 10 All-Conference Teams

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- George Washington senior point guard Kimberly Beck has been tabbed the 2008 Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year in a poll conducted by the Conference coaches. Beck, last season's Defensive Player of the Year, is the first Player of the Year from George Washington since 2004.

In that same vote, junior guard Kristi Little of Duquesne was named the Defensive Player of the Year and freshman forward Ta'Shia Phillips of Xavier was tabbed Rookie of the Year. Also, Temple senior guard Ashley Morris was named Most Improved Player of the Year, Xavier junior guard Tudy Reed was named the Sixth Player of the Year and Jim Jabir of Dayton garnered Coach of the Year honors. Additionally, George Washington senior guard Sarah-Jo Lawrence was named the Student-Athlete of the Year in voting by the Conference's sports information directors.

Beck finished the A-10 regular season as the leader in assists (6.32 apg), becoming just the 11th player in Division I NCAA history to lead her conference in assists all four years. The senior All-American from Fairburn, Ga., ranks second for nationally-ranked George Washington in scoring with 13.6 points per game, third nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.60) and is fourth in the Conference in steals (2.14 spg). This is her third straight year on the All-Conference first-team, after earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2005. She is also honored on the All-Defensive team for the third consecutive year. Beck is one of ten finalists for the Rotary Club of Detroit's Nancy Lieberman Award, which honors the nation's top Division I point guard after being one of three finalists for the Award in 2007.

Joining Beck on the All-Conference first-team are teammate Jessica Adair of George Washington, Xavier's Amber Harris, Carlene Hightower of La Salle and Temple's Ashley Morris.

Phillips tied an A-10 all-sports record for Rookie of the Week awards with 12 this season, ranks fifth in the nation in rebounds (11.3), and is averaging a double-double with 14.1 points per game. A native of Indianapolis, Ind., she set a Xavier single season record with 328 rebounds in the regular season. She is just one of two freshmen nationally to lead their league in double-doubles and is the top freshman in the nation in the category with 17 double-doubles. She recorded 20 rebounds on two different occasions this season and started all 29 games for Xavier, leading the Musketeers to the No. 3 seed in the A-10 Championship. Phillips earned second-team All-Conference honors and All-Rookie honors.

Joining Phillips on the second-team is Lady Comfort of Temple, Kate Mills of Massachusetts, St. Bonaventure's Dana Mitchell and Dayton's Nikki Oakland. The third-team consists of Sarah Acker of Saint Joseph's, Sabrina Gregory of Charlotte, George Washington's Sarah-Jo Lawrence, Theresa Lisch of Saint Louis and Duquesne's Kristi Little.

On the All-Rookie team with Phillips is Acker, Dayton's Kristin Daugherty, Fordham's Megan Mahoney and Brittani Shells of Richmond.

Little was named the Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Conference in steals with 3.24 steals per game, which ranks 12th nationally. The third-team All-Conference selection is second in the league in assists per game (6.0) and has led the Dukes to the ninth seed in the upcoming A-10 Championship after the squad missed the cut last season. Hailing from Altoona, Pa., she also ranks fourth in the Conference in scoring (16.5 ppg) and has helped Duquesne raise its offensive output to second in the league in points per game (67.8) after finishing 13th in the category a year ago.

The All-Defensive team includes Little and Beck along with Whitney Allen of George Washington, Temple's LaKeisha Eaddy, Sabrina Gregory of Charlotte and Johanna McKnight from Richmond. Six student-athletes were named to the defensive team due to a tie in voting.

Morris is the Most Improved Player of the Year. Hailing from Philadelphia, Pa., the guard entered her senior season with just one career start under her belt, a career scoring average of 3.2 points per game and a career average of 1.67 assists per game. This season, the senior captain started all 30 games for Temple while averaging 15.1 points per game and 4.30 assists per game. She ranks ninth in the league in scoring and has helped the Owls earn the top-seed in the upcoming A-10 Championship.

Reed is the 2008 Sixth Player of the Year. The junior transfer from Chicago, Ill., averaged 25.6 minutes per game, and saw action in 19 games after she was eligible in December through NCAA transfer rules. A spark off the bench, she finished the regular season as the team's third leading scorer, averaging 7.9 points per game, along with 4.4 rebounds per game.

Lawrence earns Student-Athlete of the Year laurels after posting a 3.85 grade point average as communications and sociology major. The guard from Rhoadsville, Va., was named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America third-team and was a first-team All-District honoree for the past two seasons. She currently ranks 15th in the league in scoring with 13.2 points per game and is sixth in assists with 3.97 assists per game.

Also on the All-Academic team is Charlotte's Sabrina Gregory, Christina Campion of Richmond, Dayton's Karah Cloxton and Katelyn Murray of St. Bonaventure.

In his 20th year as a head coach and fifth season at Dayton, Jabir earns his first coach of the year honor after having been named the 2008 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. He led his squad to a program-record 23 wins, which included a mid-year winning streak of 16 games (at the time the longest in the nation), and Dayton's nine Conference wins marked its most in league play since 2001. Under his direction, the Flyers earned the fifth seed in the A-10 Championship, the second-highest seed in the program's 11 years as a member of the A-10 Conference.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kimberly Beck, George Washington
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Ta'Shia Phillips, Xavier
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kristi Little, Duquesne
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Ashley Morris, Temple
SIXTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Tudy Reed, Xavier
STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Sarah-Jo Lawrence, George Washington
COACH OF THE YEAR: Jim Jabir, Dayton