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January 29, 2004 LOS ANGELES, CA - With the women's college basketball season in full swing and the teams currently immersed in conference play, the John R. Wooden Award Committee today announced the first ever Midseason All-American Team for the Women's Wooden Award presented by Applied Materials. Composed of the top 20 players who are expected to make a run for this year's player-of-the-year Award, the Midseason list is based on individual player performance and team records through this point in the season. Women's Wooden Top 20 Candidates. Highlighting the list of Midseason candidates are guards Diana Taurasi (Connecticut) and Alana Beard (Duke). Taurasi is looking to lead the Huskies to their third straight national championship while Beard, Duke's career point's leader, recently became the first women's player to have her jersey hung in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Also included on the list are a trio of outstanding seniors in Penn State's Kelly Mazzante, Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen, and Stanford's Nicole Powell. Mazzante recently became the Big Ten Conference all-time leading scorer while Whalen has notched the title of Minnesota's all-time leading scorer. Powell leads the Pac-10 conference in points per game, rebounds per game and free throw percentage. "Each of these 20 players has had an enormous impact on her respective team's season and deserves to be recognized," said Mike Solum, director of the John R. Wooden Award. "We couldn't be more thrilled to present the first ever Women's Wooden Award, and we are especially grateful to Applied Materials for their support in bringing this Award to life."
Seven NCAA conferences are represented on the list, including the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, Big East, SEC and Conference USA. The best-represented conferences include the SEC and the Big 12, with five candidates apiece. Texas and Kansas State lead the way with two nominated players each (Heather Schreiber and Stacy Stephens from Texas and Nicole Ohlde and Kendra Wecker from Kansas State). Two players that were not Women's Wooden Award Preseason Candidates were added to the list including Florida's Vanessa Hayden and DePaul's Khara Smith.
Players who do not make the Midseason list are still eligible for consideration for the Wooden Award. In March, the Committee will pare the list down to an official voting ballot consisting of approximately 15 players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.00 GPA. Over 200 voters, comprised of sports media members and women's college basketball experts across the nation, will then cast their votes for the five-member All-American team and Wooden Award honor as the most outstanding female collegiate basketball player in the United States. The 2004 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Team, the inaugural Women's Wooden Award and the presentation of the Legends of Coaching Award, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday, April 10, 2004 and will be broadcast live on a CBS telecast. The top five women's candidates will be invited to Los Angeles for the Awards ceremony, and each finalist will receive a contribution from the John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund in their name to their university's general scholarship fund. The John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund was established by Wooden Award sponsor Applied Materials through the California Community Foundation to honor Coach Wooden's dedication as a teacher and educator. Applied Materials distributed $15,000 last year to each university represented by a Wooden Award All-American Team finalist (Kansas, Marquette, Oklahoma, Texas and Xavier) for a total of $75,000. Additional donations to Applied Materials' John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund can be made by contacting the scholarship fund through the CCF (www.calfund.org). Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.00 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan ('84), Larry Bird ('79), Tim Duncan ('97) and last year's recipient, T.J. Ford ('03). For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact Julia McQueen at 310-578-7050 or via email at mcqueen@formulapr.com, or visit www.woodenaward.com.
Wooden Women's Award Midseason All-American Team - Top 20 Candidates
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