Senior guard honored at annual women’s basketball banquet.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 17, 2000) — Senior guard Erica Jacksonreceived the prestigious Top Cat Award on Saturdayat the annual women’s basketball banquet hosted bythe UK Victory Club.

Jackson (Lexington, Ky.) led the Cats in assists andsteals the past two seasons, while averaging 11.1points per game. She is touted by Coach BernadetteMattox, as one of the main reasons for the positiveturnaround of the Kentucky women’s program, helpinglead the Wildcats to back-to-back winning seasonsfor the first time in six years. The Lexington nativeaveraged 10.7 ppg in the 1999-00 campaign and wasnamed to the Coaches vs. Cancer ChallengeAll-Tournament team in November for herperformances against eventual national championConnecticut.

A total of six awards were presented by Mattox andassistant coaches Rick Griffith, Leslie Nichols andMeghan Burke. Sophomore forward LaTonya McDole(Dayton, Ohio), who led the Cats in scoring thisseason with 11.6 ppg, received the Leading ScorerAward along with the Most Improved Player Award. Acomplete list of the post-season awards follows:

AwardRecipientTop CatErica Jackson Top RebounderShantia Owens Leading ScorerLaTonya McDole Academic AwardKatie Vieth Spirit AwardNikki Young Most Improved PlayerLaTonya McDole