UConn Grad and Current Minnesota Lynx Forward Named Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year; Only Second Athlete in Program’s 35-Year History to Win Top Award Twice
The Collegiate Women Sports Awards today announced that Maya Moore, University of Connecticut basketball star and current forward for the WNBA Minnesota Lynx, has won the Honda-Broderick Cup, designating her as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Moore’s history-making win is only the second time in all 35 years of the program that an athlete has won the Honda-Broderick Cup twice (swimmer Tracy Caulkins,1982 and ’84), and she is the first-ever back-to-back winner. The announcement was made in the Low Library Rotunda at Columbia University in New York City.
The other two “Top Three” finalists for the 2011 award included distance runner Sheila Reid from Villanova University, a two-time Honda Sports Award winner this year (cross country and track & field) and Blair Brown from Penn State University (volleyball).
Moore was selected as the winner of the Honda-Broderick Cup by a voting of nearly 1,000 NCAA member schools and the Board of Directors of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program. Previous winners include: basketball superstar Candace Parker (2008), track and field legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1985), soccer great Mia Hamm (1994) and volleyball star Misty May (1999). Last year, Maya shared the award in a rare tie with
Penn State volleyball player Megan Hodge.
Led University of Connecticut to Four Straight Final Four Appearances
Moore was the #1 draft pick for the WNBA this year. She was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, and grew up in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She was a Honda Sports Award nominee in all four years of her college career. Maya led her team to four Final Four appearances, two national titles and a 150-4 record. She is the fourth-leading scorer in NCAA history, with 3,036 points. Honored as the Capital One University Division Academic All-American of the Year and BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2010 and 2011, Moore was also selected as a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2009. A three-time WBCA Wade Trophy honoree and four-time WBCA State Farm First Team All-American, she won the Naismith Trophy, the Associated Press Player of the Year Award and the USBWA Player of the Year Award in 2009 and 2011. She was also the John R. Wooden Award honoree in 2009 and 2011.
Moore is one of only two players to earn AP First Team All-America status in each of her four years in college. She is the winner of the 2010-11 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award for women’s basketball, was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 NCAA Tournament and voted Most Outstanding Player of the Philadelphia Regional (2011), the Dayton Regional (2010) and the Trenton Regional (2009). She was also named BIG EAST Player of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and the 2009 and 2011 BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Moore finished her college career with 50 double-doubles and registered double-figure points in an NCAA record 149 games.
A student athlete whose academic prowess matches her outstanding achievement on the basketball court, Moore holds a 3.669 GPA in sports media and promotion. She is the winner of the NCAA Elite 88 Award for achieving the highest GPA of all student-athletes competing in the Final Four.
In addition to the “Top Three,” other 2011 individual Honda Sports Award winners include: University of Florida’s Kelsey Bruder (softball), Notre Dame’s Melissa Henderson (soccer), the University of Alabama’s Kayla Hoffman (gymnastics), the University of Southern California’s Katinka Hosszu (swimming & diving), University of California, Berkeley’s Jana Juricova (tennis), the University of Maryland’s Katie O’Donnell (field hockey), Northwestern University’s Shannon Smith (lacrosse)and the University of Georgia’s Marta Silva Zamora (golf).
The New York awards ceremony was hosted by ESPN SportsCenter’s Sage Steele and was also attended by former Columbia University swimmer Cristina Teuscher, winner of the 2000 Honda-Broderick Cup and Olympic Gold Medalist.
In addition to the annual Honda-Broderick Cup, the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards Program also presents its annual Honda Inspiration Award to a deserving collegiate female athlete who has overcome diversity to excel in her sport. This year’s recipient is Jessica Breland, a star basketball player at the University of North Carolina who overcame Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in her college years to return to the court. She is now in her rookie year with the WNBA, playing forward for the New York Liberty.
The program also honors “Athletes of the Year” from both NCAA Division II and Division III colleges. University of Massachusetts Lowell’s field hockey star Sammy Macy, who captained her team to an undefeated 24-0 record and a national title this season, won the Division II Award. Amherst College’s swimming standout Kendra Stern, the 2011 NCAA Division III Swimmer of the Year and a 10-time NCAA individual champion, won the Division III Award.
A newsfeed with highlights from the awards ceremony will be available via satellite on Monday, June 27 at 3:45 PM & 6:45 PM (EST). Coordinates: Analog C-Band / Galaxy 19 / Transponder 24 / Downlink Freq. 4180 Horizontal / Audio 6.2, 6.8.
For more information about The Collegiate Women Sports Awards, please visit www.collegiatewomensportsawards.com.
This year’s award represents American Honda Motor Company’s 25th anniversary in support of The Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. Honda has donated over $2.3 million in institutional grants to the winners’ and nominees’ universities over the course of the program.
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