NEW YORK — Seimone Augustus, a senior on this past season’s LSU women’s basketball team, was named one of five finalists for the 2006 Collegiate Women Athlete of the Year that will receive the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup, it was announced by the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards on Monday.
The winner will be named at a special press conference on June 26th in New York.
Augustus, who was the NCAA’s National Player of the Year in women’s basketball for the 2005-06 season, is joined by Georgia’s Mary DeScenza (swimming); Alabama’s Ashley Miles (gymnastics); Texas’ Cat Osterman (softball) and Portland’s Christine Sinclair (soccer).
The five finalists for the Honda-Broderick Cup were chosen from previously announced Honda Award winners in 12 different NCAA-sanctioned sports and were voted on by more than 1,000 NCAA-member institution’s administrators.
The other seven Honda Award winners and their respective sports are: Columbia’s Caroline Bierbaum (cross country); Maryland’s Paula Infante (field hockey); Southern Cal’s Irene Cho (golf); Northwestern’s Kristen Kjellman (lacrosse); Georgia Tech’s Kristi Miller (tennis); Southern Cal’s Virginia Powell (track & field) and Washington’s Courtney Thompson (volleyball).
The winner will be presented the prestigious 2006 Honda-Broderick Cup by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who won the Honda-Broderick Cup in 1984 and was named “Top Collegiate Woman Athlete for the Past 25 Years” in 2001.
Augustus led LSU to a third straight NCAA Final Four and a second straight Southeastern Conference regular season championship this past season. The Baton Rouge native led the nation in scoring with 22.7 points per game on her way to claiming the Wade Trophy, the Naismith Award, the John R. Wooden Award and the National Player of the Year honor from the Associated Press for a second consecutive season.
Augustus, who was also a finalist for the Honda-Broderick Cup last season, capped off her career at LSU as the No. 1 pick in the 2006 WNBA draft and is currently the league’s second-leading scorer for the Minnesota Lynx.
Other past winners of the Honda-Broderick Cup include some of the most talented and accomplished collegiate athletes in recent history: Mia Hamm (soccer, 1994), Cheryl Miller (basketball, 1983), Ann Meyers (1978, basketball), Tracy Caulkins (1982, 1984, swimming & diving), Chamique Holdsclaw (basketball, 1998) and Lisa Fernandez (softball, 1993).
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.