March 12, 2008
Newark, Del. (March 12, 2008) - James Madison senior guard Tamera Young (Wilmington, N.C./Laney) was named the 2008Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball Player of the Year in voting by the league's head coaches, sports informationdirectors and members of the media. The announcement was made Wednesday night at the league's pre-tournament awardsbanquet in Newark, Del.
Also receiving top honors were Old Dominion's Wendy Larry as the CAA Coach of the Year, UNC Wilmington's BrittanyBlackwell (Raleigh, N.C./Cary Academy) as the CAA Rookie of the Year, Delaware's Kyle DeHaven (Herndon, Va./Herndon)as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and William & Mary's Kyra Kaylor (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) as the recipientof the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award.Young has proven herself as one of the most prolific scorers in league history. She became James Madison's all-time leadingscorer this season and is 115 points shy of the CAA's career scoring mark with nearly 2,000 points. The senior guard was topsin the league in scoring and rebounding this season as she averaged 19.6 points and 10.0 boards per game. It is the secondconsecutive season the CAA Player of the Year has come from James Madison as Meredith Alexis received the honor lastseason.
Larry guided Old Dominion to its highest national ranking in eight years as the Lady Monarchs were ranked as high as 10th inthe Associated Press Top 25 Poll. Her club reached the 26-victory mark for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign, whenshe also received Coach of the Year accolades. Her squad went 17-1 in CAA play this season and captured the regular seasontitle for the 15th time in the last 16 years. The Coach of the Year honor is the seventh for Larry.
Blackwell is the second UNC Wilmington player to earn CAA Rookie of the Year honors in the last four years. She led all ofthe conference's freshmen with 14.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Blackwell scored in double-figures in 23 of her 27contests and connected on 50.9 percent of her shots from the floor. Her 139 field goals were also tops among freshmen.DeHaven received the CAA Defensive Player of the Year award for the second time in her career, the first of which came as amember of William & Mary in 2004-05. She led the league with 128 steals, which ranks fifth in CAA history, and finishedtops in Division I with 4.6 thefts per game this season. Her 426 career steals rank second on the conference's all-time list. Thesenior guard also led the Blue Hens in scoring with 10.5 points per game and dished out a team-best 100 assists.Kaylor, who earned all-conference honors for the fourth straight year, led William & Mary and ranked among the league's topfive with 14.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per outing. She ranks third on the CAA's career rebounding list with 1,110 caroms andis fifth on the league's all-time scoring chart with 1,840 career points.
Kaylor is the first player from William & Mary to earnthe Dean Ehlers Leadership award, which is presented annually to the women's basketball student-athlete who "embodies thehighest standards of leadership, integrity, and sportsmanship in conjunction with her academic athletic achievement."
Joining Young and Kaylor on the All-CAA first team were Old Dominion senior guard T.J. Jordan (Portsmouth, Va./Wilson),Drexel sophomore forward Gabriela Marginean (Cluj-Napona, Romania/Mt. de Chantal Academy) and VCU senior forwardKrystal Vaughn (Baltimore, Md./Lake Clifton-Eastern).Jordan, who led Old Dominion with 13.2 points per game, drained a league-high 72 three-pointers this season and broke theCAA's all-time three-point record with 313 career treys. Marginean, who tied the league record for the fastest player to reach1,000 career points, finished second in the CAA with 19.2 points per game and was tops in Division I in free throw percentageat 91 percent. Vaughn led VCU and finished third in the league with 15.0 points per outing and was second on the Rams withsix rebounds a game.
Other Lady Monarchs receiving honors Wednesday night were junior Tiffany Green (Chesapeake, Va.) with Second Team All-CAA honors and All-Defensive Team accolades, sophomore Jessica Canady (Williamsburg, Va.) with Third Team All-CAA honors, and freshman Jasmine Parker (Norfolk, Va.) being named to the CAA's All-Rookie squad. Senior Megan Pym (Newfield, N.Y.) and junior Jen Nuzzo (Newport News, Va.) were also named First Team All-Academic.
The Old Dominion women's basketball team will begin its 2008 CAA Tournament run on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. in the quarterfinals facing the winner of the UNC-Wilmington/Delaware first round match-up. Live stats and video are available at caasports.com.
2007-08 CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL AWARD WINNERS
ALL-CAA FIRST TEAM
T.J. Jordan, Old Dominion
Kyra Kaylor, William & Mary
Gabriela Marginean, Drexel
Krystal Vaughn, VCU
Tamera Young, James Madison
ALL-CAA SECOND TEAM
Brittany Blackwell, UNC Wilmington
Tiffany Green, Old Dominion
Quanitra Hollingsworth, VCU
Holly Mahan, Towson
Shaleyse Smallwood, Northeastern
ALL-CAA THIRD TEAM
Shanae Baker-Brice, Towson
Jessica Canady, Old Dominion
Kyle DeHaven, Delaware
Brittany Hollins, Georgia State
Narissa Suber, Drexel
Sahsha Taylor, UNC Wilmington
2008 CAA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Tamera Young, James Madison
2008 CAA COACH OF THE YEAR: Wendy Larry, Old Dominion
2008 CAA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Brittany Blackwell, UNC Wilmington
2008 CAA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kyle DeHaven, Delaware
2008 DEAN EHLERS LEADERSHIP AWARD: Kyra Kaylor, William & Mary
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Brittany Blackwell, UNC Wilmington
Dawn Evans, James Madison
Jasmine Parker, Old Dominion
Britné Rodgers, Hofstra
Jasmina Rosseel, Drexel
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Tiffany Benson, William & Mary
Kyle DeHaven, Delaware
Tiffany Green, Old Dominion
Brittany Hollins, Georgia State
Holly Mahan, Towson
ALL-ACADEMIC FIRST TEAM:
Radoslava Bachvarova, VCU
Christina Biedny, Hofstra
Jennifer Nuzzo, Old Dominion
Megham Pym, Old Dominion
Niki Williams, Hofstra
ALL-ACADEMIC SECOND TEAM:
Jennifer Brown, James Madison
Farrah Ferguson, Delaware
Stephanie Fernald, UNC Wilmington
Rashauna Hobbs, George Mason
Brittany Hollins, Georgia State
Kyra Kaylor, William & Mary
Jamie Mundy, Delaware
Linn Quamme, Hofstra
Casey Quigley, George Mason
Jennifer Stjarnstrom, Drexel