Bowling Green State University Athletics
Pontius Earns All-America Honorable Mention
March 31, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 31, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green State University sophomore Tracy Pontius has been named to the Associated Press All-America Team. Pontius, a native of Morton, Ill., has earned honorable mention to the team, it was announced Tuesday (March 31).
Pontius had a stellar sophomore season, averaging 14.8 points and 4.1 assists per game. She led the Falcons in a myriad of categories, including assists, three-point field goals made (77) and three-point percentage (43.0%). Pontius fell just one triple shy of tying the school record.
Pontius was the lone player from the Mid-American Conference to be named to the team.
Oklahoma's Courtney Paris became the first women's basketball player ever to be named to the first team four times. Paris was joined on the 2009 first team by the Connecticut duo of Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery, along with Angel McCoughtry of Louisville and Kristi Toliver of Maryland. Moore is a sophomore, while the other four players are in their senior seasons.
The AP has named a women's All-American team annually since 1995.
Moore received 225 points and was the only unanimous choice among the 45-member national media panel that votes in the weekly Top 25. The voting was done before the start of the NCAA tournament.
The second team consisted of Auburn senior DeWanna Bonner, Stanford junior Jayne Appel, Maryland senior Marissa Coleman, Ohio State sophomore Jantel Lavender and Connecticut junior Tina Charles.
The third team included California senior Ashley Walker, Pittsburgh senior Shavonte Zellous, Rutgers junior Epiphanny Prince, Duke senior Chante Black and Middle Tennessee State junior Alysha Clark.
The preseason All-America team was Paris, Moore, McCoughtry, Toliver and Andrea Riley of Oklahoma State.
2008-09 AP Women's All-America Teams
Statistics through March 30
FIRST TEAM
* Maya Moore, Connecticut, 6-0, sophomore, Lawrenceville, Ga., 19.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 3.3 apg, 52.6 fg pct, 3.2 steals (45 first-team votes, 225 points)
* Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, 6-4, senior, Piedmont, Calif., 16.0 ppg, 13.7 rpg, 57.7 fg pct, 2.8 blocks (42, 219)
* Angel McCoughtry, Louisville, 6-1, senior, Baltimore, 23.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 4.2 steals (41, 215)
* Kristi Toliver, Maryland, 5-7, senior, Harrisonburg, Va., 18.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4.9 apg, 35.1 minutes, 41.6 3-pt fg pct, 85.7 ft pct (32, 191)
* Renee Montgomery, Connecticut, 5-7, senior, St. Albans, W.Va., 16.1 ppg, 5.1 apg (27, 174)
SECOND TEAM
* DeWanna Bonner, Auburn, 6-4, senior, Fairfield, Ala., 21.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 84.5 ft pct (19, 157)
* Jayne Appel, Stanford, 6-4, junior, Pleasant Hill, Calif., 15.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 60.6 fg pct (2, 112)
* Marissa Coleman, Maryland, 6-1, senior, Cheltenham, Md., 18.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 3.3 apg (4, 87)
* Jantel Lavender, Ohio State, 6-4, sophomore, Cleveland, 20.8 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 54.1 fg pct (0, 83)
* Tina Charles, Connecticut, 6-4, junior, Jamaica, N.Y., 16.4 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 61.5 fg pct (0, 65)
THIRD TEAM
* Shavonte Zellous, Pittsburgh, 5-10, senior, Orlando, Fla., 22.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.9 apg (1, 62)
* Ashley Walker, California, 6-1, senior, Modesto, Calif., 19.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 55.3 fg pct (1, 60)
* Epiphanny Prince, Rutgers, 5-9, junior, Brooklyn, N.Y., 19.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.8 apg, 37.0 minutes, 80.6 ft pct, 2.6 steals (1, 54)
* Chante Black, Duke, 6-5, senior, Winston-Salem, N.C., 14.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.1 blocks (1, 48)
* Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee State, 5-10, junior, Mount Juliet, Tenn., 27.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.1 apg, 60.7 fg pct, 2.1 steals (1, 40)
HONORABLE MENTION
* Whitney Boddie, Auburn
* Jessica Breland, North Carolina
* Sha Brooks, Florida
* Kristi Cirone, Illinois State
* Robyn Fairbanks, Utah Valley
* Rachele Fitz, Marist
* Megan Frazee, Liberty
* Danielle Gant, Texas A&M
* Alexis Gray-Lawson, California
* Allison Hightower, LSU
* Ify Ibekwe, Arizona
* Briann January, Arizona State
* Laura Kurz, Villanova
* Shalee Lehning, Kansas State
* Lyndra Littles, Virginia
* Rashanda McCants, North Carolina
* Danielle McCray, Kansas
* Mandy Morales, Montana
* Deirdre Naughton, DePaul
* Ashley Paris, Oklahoma
* Ta'Shia Phillips, Xavier
* Tracy Pontius, Bowling Green
* Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State
* Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma
* Takia Starks, Texas A&M
* Morgan Warburton, Utah
* Jennifer Warkenthien, South Dakota State
* Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga
* Danielle Wilson, Baylor
* Christina Wirth, Vanderbilt
* Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, Purdue
* Monica Wright, Virginia
(portions of this release courtesy Associated Press)
