March 23, 2005

West Texas A&M University women's basketball player Celeste Stevenson was recognized by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and Kodak with honorable mention WBCA/Kodak All-American accolades announced today (March 23) by the WBCA.

Stevenson is the first Lady Buff player to receive All-American honors since Brandi Green in the 2000-01 season.

The honorable mention All-American award is another award to Stevenson's long and growing list of accolades, which included first-team All-South Central Region, 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 also 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, leaves WTAMU as the Lady Buffs' Career Scoring Leader, passing the 1,906 points by Vanessa Wells (1984-88), as Stevenson tallied 1,988 points.

Stevenson is also the WTAMU record holder for both Career Free Throws Made and Career Free Throws Attempted records. Stevenson was 667-906 (.736), 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 snared 862 career rebounds, shy of 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 was 660-of-1,450 (.455). She is 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.

This season, Stevenson led WTAMU with 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. She led the Lady Buffs in scoring in 18 games this season, including leading or sharing the scoring lead in the last five games.

Stevenson was joined on the honorable mention list Angelo State University's Natalja Tsurbakova as the only other LSC player. WTAMU finished the season with a 21-9 record, losing in the quarterfinals of the NCAA-II South Central Regional Tournament to Washburn, who went on to win the Region and is competing at the Elite Eight this weekend. The Lady Buffs reached the 20-win plateau for the 18th season under head coach Bob Schneider, including the last three years.

-WT-