March 10, 2003
The Big West Conference announced its 2002-03 postseason awards on Monday, bestowing the highest league honors upon members of the 17th-ranked UC Santa Barbara women's basketball program.
Junior center Lindsay Taylor earned Big West Player of the Year recognition, becoming the sixth Gaucho in the past seven seasons to be named the conference's MVP. She was joined on the All-Big West First Team by sophomore forward Kristen Mann. Meanwhile senior guard Jess Hansen was a Second Team honoree, while sophomores Mia Fisher and Brandy Richardson garnered honorable mention acclaim from the league.
UCSB head coach Mark French, who guided his squad to a 23-4 overall record and unprecedented eighth consecutive Big West regular season title in 2002-03, was chosen as Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his 16 years at the school. It is the third award in the last four seasons for French, who is also a finalist for Naismith National Coach of the Year honors.
Taylor, a Second Team All-Big West honoree each of the past two seasons, was selected as the league's top performer in her junior campaign after ranking amongst the top-six conference players in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocked shots, where she holds down the top spot at 1.85 per game. The Chandler, Ariz., native made a final push for Player of the Year recognition by scoring 20 or more points in each of the final four regular season contests. She amassed double-digit point totals in 23 of Santa Barbara's 27 games, and was the Gauchos' leading scorer on 17 occasions.
Despite missing nearly two months due to back and forearm injury, Mann became just the fifth player in Gaucho history to earn a spot on the All-Big West First Team as a sophomore. Due to her 12-game absence the Santa Ana, Calif., native lacks the minimum playing time to qualify as a conference leader, but ranks second on the team in scoring and third in rebounding at 15.0 points and 7.3 boards per game.
After garnering honorable mention acclaim the past two seasons, Hansen is a Second Team honoree for the first time as a Gaucho. Her 10.6 points per game average is currently the highest of her four-year career, while the native of Oregon City, Ore., owns a three-point shooting percentage of 45.3% that leads the Big West and ranked seventh nationally as of March 4.
Fisher repeated as an honorable mention recipient after leading the Big West in field goal percentage at 56.8%, and equaled Hansen's 10.6 points per game average. She was the only guard amongst the league's eight-most efficient scorers. Earning the first award of her collegiate career was Richardson, who owns the league's top rebounding average at 9.5 boards per game. The forward from Aiea, Hawai'i, currently leads the Gauchos in minutes per contest with 29.9, and has already nearly doubled her point, rebound and assist totals from her freshman campaign in 2001-02.
The complete list of 2002-03 All-Big West hnorees can be viewed at www.bigwest.org.
UCSB begins its quest for a seventh consecutive Big West Tournament title and NCAA tourney berth this Wednesday, March 12 against Cal State Fullerton. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.
