BATON ROUGE — LSU’s women’s basketball team, coming off another successful season, recognized the accomplishments of the team and handed out individual awards at the 2006 Banquet held at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night.
LSU posted a 31-4 overall record, reached the NCAA Final Four for the third straight season and claimed a second consecutive Southeastern Conference regular season crown with a 13-1 mark.
During the season, the Lady Tigers posted an 11-3 record against top 25 opponents, including the program’s first victory against Tennessee in Knoxville. LSU also earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and defeated Florida Atlantic, Washington, DePaul and Stanford to advance to Boston and the Final Four.
Individually, second-year head coach Pokey Chatman and her staff handed out the annual team awards at the banquet.
Sophomore guard Erica White was given the Keia Howell Most Improved Player of the Year. White averaged 5.6 points and 5.4 assists in 34 games, including 20 starts at the point guard position. White finished the season with 184 assists, the most by a sophomore in LSU history.
Senior Scholanda Hoston was awarded the LaTasha Dorsey Defensive Player of the Year. Hoston, a Second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection, collected 63 steals and 20 blocked shots during the season and was called upon to guard the opponent’s best perimeter.
Sophomore Khalilah Mitchell received the Cornelia Gayden Outstanding Attitude Award. Mitchell, who averaged 8.0 minutes in 22 games, always did what was asked of her in practice and in games.
Sophomore Ashley Thomas received both the Kisha James Outstanding Teammate Award and the Pokey Chatman Leadership Award. Thomas started 22 games this season and averaged 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. The 6-0 forward always practiced and played at 100 percent.
Katie Antony, who sat out the 2005-06 season after transferring to LSU from Vanderbilt, received the Sue Gunter Courage Award. Antony spent the season on the Lady Tigers’ practice team working hard each day.
Seimone Augustus, a senior and the 2005-06 National Player of the Year, was named the Joyce Walker Perimeter Player of the Year. Augustus led the nation in scoring with 22.7 points per game to go with 4.8 rebounds per outing. The Baton Rouge native was recently the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick going to the Minnesota Lynx.
Sophomore Sylvia Fowles received the Maree Jackson Post Player of the Year award. Fowles, a First-team All-SEC selection and Third-team Associated Press All-American, scored 15.9 points and grabbed a conference best 11.6 rebounds per game during the season. The Miami, Fla., native finished her sophomore year needing 17 points to reach 1,000 in her career and needing five blocked shots to become LSU’s career leader in blocks.
Senior Florence Williams was named the Arete Award winner that goes to the player that demonstrates the most outstanding effort in the weight room. Williams, who started 12 games, averaged 6.0 points and 3.8 points per game in her final season at LSU.
Sophomore Marian Whitfield received the Miriam Farr Segar Academic Excellence Award. Whitfield made LSU’s Dean’s List during the fall semester and showed the most improvement in the classroom among the Lady Tigers.
Micki Collins, an associate athletic trainer, was awarded the Lady Tiger Pillar of Achievement Award that goes annual to a member of the support staff. Collins, in her fifth season working with the Lady Tigers, puts numerous hours behind the scenes in the training room getting the student-athletes prepared for practice and games.