Complete WCC Release (pdf)
PORTLAND, Ore. --- After a stellar second season on The Bluff, Portland junior Natalie Day was voted to the All-West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball First Team as four Pilots total received all-conference honors, which was announced by the league on Tuesday. Senior Tara Cronin and junior ReZina TecleMariam each earned All-WCC Honorable Mention, while Alexis Byrd landed on the all-freshman team.
Portland matches league champion Gonzaga for the conference high with four players honored.
Gonzaga received a pair of individual honors after claiming its seventh straight WCC regular season title and the top seed in the WCC Tournament. Senior Courtney Vandersloot was named the Conference’s 2011 Player of the Year and head coach Kelly Graves took home the WCC Coach of the Year honor for the second straight season. Pepperdine junior Jazmine Jackson was named WCC Defensive Player of the Year, while Loyola Marymount freshman Camille Buckley was named as the conference’s Newcomer of the Year.
Day, a wing who transferred to UP from Howard University prior to the 2009-10 season, led Portland in both scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg) this year to help lead the Pilots to a fourth-place finish in the WCC. She increased her rebounding to 8.6 boards per game during league play as posting double-doubles became practically routine for the native of Germantown, Md. Day averaged a double-double during the month of February with per game marks of 19.0 points and 10.7 rebounds, and she
became the first UP player since 2000 and just the third overall since 1986 (when Portland moved up to the NCAA Division I level) to have a string of four straight double-doubles. This is the first all-conference honor for Day, who had a career-high 16 rebounds against Pepperdine on Feb. 10. She also missed matching a career high in scoring by one point with a 27-point outburst at San Francisco on Feb. 17.
This is the second all-conference honorable mention for Cronin, who also earned the nod as a sophomore. The guard from Spokane, Wash., is currently just seven points shy of becoming the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. She averaged 9.7 points overall on the season, while dropping 11.2 points during WCC contests. She also averaged 4.0 assists and 5.3 rebounds during WCC games, which are both up from her overall season averages. Cronin registered a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards against Pepperdine, missed a career-high in rebounds by one with 12 at San Francisco and she scored 20 points against San Diego, reaching the 20-point plateau for the third time in her career.
TecleMariam, a guard from Puyallup, Wash., earns her first all-conference recognition after perhaps her best and most consistent season at UP. She was second on the team in scoring with an average of 11.6 points per game, while averaging 12.0 points during the conference schedule. TecleMariam was second in the conference in assists (5.3 apg) and she was Portland’s best three-point shooter, finishing with 47 three’s and a percentage of .402 from behind the arc. She also had three games with at least 10
assists, including a career-high 12 dimes against San Diego on Feb. 24. TecleMariam added 16 points against the Toreros for her second double-double of the year. On Jan. 24, she was named the WCC’s Co-Player of the Week after averaging 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds during wins over San Francisco and Santa Clara.
Byrd saved her best for the conference schedule as she averaged nearly three points more against WCC opponents. A native of Las Vegas, Nev., Byrd scored 8.7 points per game during league play, brought in 3.0 rebounds and handed out 2.4 assists. The point guard reached double figures in scoring five times, all coming during the conference slate, and she dropped a season and a career-high 19 points at Saint Mary’s on Jan. 29. Her career bests in rebounds (seven) and assists (six) also came against WCC foes.
Next up for the Pilots is a trip to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., for the 2011 WCC Championships. Portland, which received a first-round bye, is set to play the winner between Santa Clara and San Francisco in a second round game on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Coach of the Year: Kelly Graves, Gonzaga
Player of the Year: Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga
Defensive Player of the Year: Jazmine Jackson, Pepperdine
Newcomer of the Year: Camille Buckley, LMU
2011 ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Name, School, Hgt., Pos., Year, Hometown
Dominique Conners, San Diego, 5-8, G, Jr., Oceanside, Calif.
Natalie Day, Portland, 6-0, G/F, Jr., Germantown, Md.
Lena Gipson, Santa Clara, 6-0, F, Sr., Hanford, Calif.
Jazmine Jackson, Pepperdine, 5-9, G, Jr., Oakland, Calif.
Katelan Redmon, Gonzaga, 6-1, G/F, Jr., Spokane, Wash.
Jasmine Smith, Saint Mary’s, 5-8, G, Jr., Pinole, Calif.
Kayla Standish, Gonzaga, 6-2, F, Jr., Ellensburg, Wash.
Louella Tomlinson, Saint Mary’s, 6-4, F, Sr., Melborne, Australia
Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga, 5-8, G, Sr., Kent, Wash.
Renahy Young, LMU, 5-8, G, Sr., Torrance, Calif.
HONORABLE MENTION
Gonzaga: Janelle Bekkering; LMU: Candice Nichols; Portland: Tara Cronin; Portland: ReZina TecleMariam; San Diego: Sam Child; San Francisco: Kelly Jo Mullaney; Santa Clara: Meagan Fulps
2011 ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Name, School, Hgt., Pos., Hometown
Camille Buckley, LMU, 6-1, F, Ontario, Calif.
Alexis Byrd, Portland, 5-10, G, Las Vegas, Nev.
Danielle Mauldin, Saint Mary’s, 6-0, F, Hercules, Calif.
Robie Mayberry, Pepperdine, 5-11, F, San Leandro, Calif.
Ricki Radanovich, Santa Clara, 5-10, G, Diablo, Calif.
