BATON ROUGE — LSU’s women’s basketball team, coming off a fourth straight trip to the NCAA Final Four, recognized the accomplishments of the team and handed out individual awards at the 2007 Banquet held at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Saturday evening.
LSU won at least 30 games for the third straight season and fifth time in the program’s history with the 30-8 mark. The Lady Tigers posted a 10-4 mark in the Southeastern Conference and reached the tournament championship game before earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the Final Four again.
Highlighting the season were wins over No. 5 Ohio State, and 15th-ranked Georgia at home and post season wins over Tennessee in the SEC Tournament and Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament.
Individually, the women’s basketball staff handed out the annual team awards at the banquet.
Freshman guard Allison Hightower was given the Keia Howell Most Improved Player of the Year. Hightower averaged 6.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game and saw action in all 38 games for the Lady Tigers. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman team and posted 6.5 points in LSU’s eight post season games.
Junior RaShonta LeBlanc was awarded the LaTasha Dorsey Defensive Player of the Year. LeBlanc collected 48 steals and 97 defensive rebounds and was called upon to guard the opponent’s best perimeter during most of the season.
Sophomore Kristen Morris received the Cornelia Gayden Outstanding Attitude Award. Morris, who averaged 2.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 26 games, always did what was asked of her in practice and in games.
Junior Katie Antony received the Kisha James Outstanding Teammate Award. Antony, in her first season playing for the Lady Tigers after transferring in from Vanderbilt, averaged 2.9 points and 1.5 rebounds in 24 games.
Erica White, a junior guard, was given the Temeka Johnson Floor General Award. White, who played in 37 games, averaged 8.2 points and a team-high 4.3 assists per game from the point guard position.
Junior Ashley Thomas received both the Sue Gunter Courage Award and the Arete Award. Thomas posted 4.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in 34 games, including 32 starts. Thomas missed four games with a knee injury, but showed courage to overcome the injury to return to the floor for the post season.
The Arete Award is given annually to the player that shows outstanding effort in the weight room.
Sophomore Quianna Chaney was named the Joyce Walker Perimeter Player of the Year. Chaney connected on 52 three-point shots during the season, including 20 of 50 in SEC play to lead the Lady Tigers from the outside.
Junior Sylvia Fowles received the Maree Jackson Post Player of the Year award. Fowles, a Kodak All-American, posted a team-high 16.9 points and 12.6 rebounds during the season became the first player in LSU history to reach at least 1,500 points, 1,200 rebounds and 200 blocked shots during this past season.