Women's Basketball: Sanni First Team all-Big East
March 02, 2007 09:31 PM | General
March 2, 2007
| BIG EAST UPDATES MSN's Travis Jones is with the women's basketball team at the Big East tournament in Hartford, Conn. He will file daily reports from the tournament that can be downloaded to your iPod or MP3 player. 
FRIDAY REPORT |
HARTFORD, Conn. – West Virginia University junior forward Olayinka Sanni was named to the 11-member all-Big East first team, announced Friday night in Hartford, Conn.
Sanni becomes just the second Mountaineer player to earn first team all-Big East honors, joining guard Meg Bulger in 2005.
Sanni averaged 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during the regular season, but her scoring averaged increased to 16.3 points per game in conference action. The 6-foot-2-inch center from Chicago Heights, Ill., shot 58.6 percent from the field and also blocked a team-high 30 shots.
Making the all-Big East second team was junior guard LaQuita Owens. The Charlotte resident averaged 13.5 points and 5.6 boards per game, hitting a team- and league-best 83 3-point field goals. Like Sanni, Owens had a better scoring average in Big East play at 15.9 points per game.
Junior forward Chakhia Cole was an honorable mention pick. The Marlboro, N.J., native averaged 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, shooting 46.6 percent from the field.
Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry was named Big East player of the year after averaging 22.4 points and 10.9 rebounds per game during the regular season. Rutgers’ Essence Carson was picked as the league’s defensive player of the year, while Connecticut’s Tina Charles was named Big East newcomer of the year.
Other players capturing awards were Pitt’s Shavonte Zellous (most improved player), DePaul’s Jenna Rubino (sportsmanship award and Aeropostale scholar-athlete).
Marquette’s Terri Mitchell was named the Big East coach of the year after leading Marquette to a 24-5 record and a No. 3 seed in this year’s Big East championships. The Golden Eagles have been ranked as high as 16th in the AP poll this year.
Tournament action begins on Saturday. Louisville takes on St. John’s at noon followed by South Florida and Seton Hall at 2 pm. In the night session, Notre Dame battles DePaul at 6 pm and Pitt and Cincinnati will play at 8 pm.
West Virginia will face the Louisville-St. John’s winner at noon on Sunday, No. 1-seeded Connecticut will play the USF-Seton Hall winner at 2 pm.
No. 2-seeded Rutgers will face either Notre Dame or DePaul at 6 pm, followed by Marquette playing the Pitt-Cincinnati winner at 8 pm Sunday night. All four games on Sunday will air on ESPNU.
