The University of Kentucky women?s basketball team landed three players on the 2005 All-Southeastern Conference teams announced by the league office Tuesday.
Senior guard/forward Sara Potts, freshman center Sara Elliott and freshman guard Samantha Mahoney were each recognized by the SEC. Potts, a native of Rochester Hills, Mich., was named to the All-SEC second team for the second consecutive season. She is the first UK player to receive the honor twice in a career since Stacey Reed in 1993 and 1995.
Potts ranks among the SEC?s best and leads Kentucky in several categories, including scoring (13.7), three-point field goals made (63) and free throw shooting percentage (85.7). The 6-0 swing player has scored in double figures 22 of 29 games this season, including six contests with 20-plus points. She averages a team-high 32.3 minutes per game and has played a complete 40 minutes five times this season, including two consecutive.
Potts has compiled 1,430 career points and needs three more to move into eighth place on UK?s all-time scoring list. She holds the school record for most three-pointers made in a game (7), season (74 – ?02-?03) and career (253) and three-point field goal attempts in a career (668). She currently ranks fourth in the SEC standings in three-point field goals made per game (all games – 2.17), fifth in free-throw percentage (5th), 11th in scoring (13.7 ppg) and 12th in 3-pt FG percentage (.366).
Elliott, a 6-6 center from McKee, Ky., has scored in double-figures in nine of the last 12 conference games, including 11 points vs. Arkansas on Sunday. She currently leads the team in field goal percentage (.564) which ranks fifth in the SEC rankings and is UK?s second leading scorer (all games) with 10.7 ppg and third in conference games only with 10.0 ppg. She is on track to break the school record for highest field goal percentage in a single season by a freshman. Valerie Still set the record of 55.3 (256-463) during her freshman campaign in the 1979-80 season.
She also leads the team in blocks with 39 and needs just seven to tie and eight to break the school record for most swats by a freshman in a single season. Still also set the record of 46 during her freshman campaign during the 1979-80 season. Elliott ranks seventh in the SEC in blocks per game, averaging 1.34 bpg. She has played in all 29 games with six starts, including two consecutive.
Mahoney, a native of Detroit, Mich., has earned a starting spot in 22-of-29 games, including 22 straight. She is third on the team in scoring (all games) with 10.6 ppg but leads the team in conference games only with 12.5 ppg.
Since being inserted in the starting lineup vs. Charleston Southern on Dec. 10, Mahoney is averaging 12.0 ppg. She has tallied double figure points in 15-of-22 starts, including a career-best 22 points vs. top-ranked LSU. She followed that performance with her first career double-double with 19 points and a career-high 12 rebounds vs. South Carolina in Columbia. She has led the Cats in scoring in four of the last six league games.
This is the first time two UK players have been named to the SEC All-Freshman team in the same season. It also marks the first time a UK player has been named to the SEC All-Freshman squad since SeSe Helm in 2001. Only four players in UK history have previously earned the honor.
The complete 2005 SEC Women’s Basketball Postseason Awards follow.
First Team All-SEC
Natasha Brackett, Auburn
Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
Seimone Augustus, LSU
Temeka Johnson, LSU
Armintie Price, Ole Miss
Tan White, Mississippi State
Shyra Ely, Tennessee
Ashley Earley, Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Monique Bivins, Alabama
Bernice Mosby, Florida
Sara Potts, Kentucky
Sylvia Fowles, LSU
Amber Watts, Ole Miss
Shanna Zolman, Tennessee
Carla Thomas, Vanderbilt
Dee Davis, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Alexis Ogubie, Auburn
Megan Darrah, Georgia
Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
Sarah Elliott, Kentucky
Samantha Mahoney, Kentucky
Quianna Chaney, LSU
Sylvia Fowles, LSU
Alexis Hornbuckle, Tennessee
Nikki Anosike, Tennessee
Coach of the Year: Pokey Chatman, LSU
Player of the Year: Seimone Augustus, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
Defensive Player of the Year: Armintie Price, Ole Miss
6th Woman of the Year: Sylvia Fowles, LSU
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Sarah Pfeifer, Arkansas
