March 8, 2005

West Texas A&M University women's basketball player Celeste Stevenson received her second major award in as many days, as she was named to the first-team Daktronics NCAA-II South Central Region.

The first-team award comes a day after Stevenson was named the Lone Star Conference South Division Player of the Year and first-team All-LSC South accolades as well. Stevenson's award collection also includes being named to the LSC All-Tournament Team.

Stevenson is now a two-time All-Region selection, after receiving first-team honors last season. She also is a three-time first-team LSC South selection, after earning LSC South Freshman of the Year and second-team accolades as a freshman. Stevenson also is a three-time LSC All-Tournament Team selection.

Stevenson, a 5-10 senior forward from Abilene, Texas, recently became WTAMU Career Scoring Leader, passing the 1,906 points by Vanessa Wells (1984-88), and Stevenson currently has 1,968 points, closing in on the 2,000-point eschelon.

Stevenson is also the WTAMU record holder for both Career Free Throws Made and Career Free Throws Attempted records. Stevenson is presently 653-889 (.735), ranking sixth on WTAMU's Career Free Throw Percentage List.

Stevenson has become just the second player in Lady Buff history to eclipse the 800-rebound plateau, as she now has 855 career rebounds, closing in on Brandi Green (1997-2001) at No. 1 with 874 rebounds. Stevenson also ranks fifth on WTAMU's Career Rebounding Average List with a 7.31 rpg career average. Green is No. 4 with a 7.41 rpg avg.

Stevenson has also moved up in the Career Field Goals Made and Attempted Lists, as she is 657-of-1,437 (.457). She is currently No. 5 for FG Made and No. 2 for FG Attempted. Vanessa Wells (1984-86) is No. 1 in both lists with 823-of-1,659.

Stevenson continues to lead the Lady Buffs' charge, as she tallies 16.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, becoming WTAMU's All-Time Leading Scorer last week and earning LSC South Player of the Week Honors. Stevenson has led the Lady Buffs in scoring 17 times this season including leading or sharing the scoring lead in the last four games.

In the LSC statistics (as of March 7), Stevenson ranks fifth in both scoring and rebounding for the third-straight week, as well as 13th in steals (1.72 spg) and 12th in field goal percentage (.472, 161-of-341). Stevenson tied a team-high with 13 points, including 7-of-10 from the free throw line, in Friday's semifinal loss. In Tuesday's quarterfinal win over SWOSU, Stevenson also tied for the game-high with 16 points, along with five rebounds and shot 7-of-11 from the field.

Stevenson was joined on the first team by two other LSC players, as Angelo State's Natalja Tsurbakova and Southwestern Oklahoma's Julie Dawson were recognized, while TAMU-Commerce's Hazel Woods was named to the second-team. Tsurbakova was named the Region Player of the Year, after leading ASU to its second-straight LSC Championship and a No. 6 ranking in this week's WBCA Top 25 Poll.

Selma Barbosa from Missouri Western and Amanda Newton from Drury round out the first-team, while Kami Scrivner from Pittsburg State, Carla Sintra from Washburn and Hope Hunt from Drury round out the second-team selections.

The team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing, and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition. Sports Information Directors from the Lone Star Conference, MIAA and Heartland Conference nominated players and voted on the teams.

WTAMU takes a 21-8 ledger into the NCAA-II South Central Regional Tournament, where they'll be the seventh-seed and will face the second-seed, Washburn University, ranked No. 3 in the WBCA Top 25 Poll, on Friday, March 11 at 3 p.m. at Springfield, Mo.

The Lady Buffs lost to Northeastern State University, 62-53, on Friday night in the LSC Tournament semifinal contest. The Lady Buffs will be making their second-straight trip to the Regionals and 13th overall. Last year, the Regional was also at Springfield, as the sixth-seeded Lady Buffs knocked of third-seeded Emporia State University before being eliminated by Northeastern State in the semifinals.

-WT-