Natasha Howard makes ACC All-Freshman Team
Florida State rookie Natasha Howard (Waite) has been named to the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball All-Freshman Team.
The Toledo native finished the regular season as the team’s fourth-leading scorer with 11.1 points per game and was second in rebounding with 6.4 boards per contest. Howard started all 29 games for the Seminoles and scored in double figures on 16 occasions and had three double-doubles.
The most highly regarded recruit in FSU women’s basketball history, Howard finished third amongst rookies in the ACC in scoring, second in rebounds, fourth in blocked shots and eighth in field goal percentage.
“Natasha has the skills to be as good as she wants to be,” FSU head coach Sue Semrau said. “She has such a tremendous basketball IQ that you sometimes forget she is a first-year player. We are all very excited to see her continue to build off her freshman season.”
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| Florida State rookie Natasha Howard (Waite) |
Howard is the ninth player in school history to earn ACC All-Freshman Team honors, joining Connie Robinson (1992), Latavia Coleman (1996), Brooke Wyckoff (1997), April Taylor (1999), Shante Williams (2004), Britany Miller (2006), Jacinta Monroe (2007) and Cierra Bravard (2009).
FSU has already become a mainstay in the Division I NCAA Tournament.
Now the Seminoles are setting a yearly trend by earning high seeds, too.
A season after setting the school record by earning the highest seed in school history at No. 3 for the annual women's basketball tournament, FSU tied that mark Monday night.
As a No. 3 seed, the Seminoles (23-7) headed to Auburn, Ala. to face Samford (25-7) on Sunday. The Dallas Region bracket also features Georgia and Middle Tennessee State.
The 'Noles and Bulldogs square off at 4 p.m. CT in what will be FSU's school-record seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The game will air live on ESPN2.
Howard’s teammate, junior forward Cierra Bravard, who played for Coach Ray Neill at Sandusky Perkins, put an appropriate stamp on the best regular season of her career. That's because ACC officials announced that she is one of five members of the All-ACC First Team.
The announcement comes on the heels of 2010-11 campaign that saw Bravard lead FSU in several categories, including points per game (14.4) and rebounds per game (7.3), shooting percentage (.545) and free-throw percentage (.839).
Howard will be joined in the NCAA tournament by Bowling Green 5-9 sophomore guard Simone Eli. Eli has seen action in 11 games off the bench to date.
The BGSU women’s basketball team (28-4) headed to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in seven years. The Falcons of head coach Curt Miller received a 12 seed and faced fifth-seeded Georgia Tech in the first round on Saturday at St. John Arena on the Ohio State campus.
Tennessee Tech 6-5 junior Brittany Darling (Genoa) is playing in the National Women’s Invitational Tournament.
For the first time since the 2005-06 season, Tennessee Tech (23-7) finds itself back in postseason play hosting Auburn in the first round Thursday.
Should the Golden Eagles defeat Auburn, they would move on to the second round to face Toledo, which defeated Delaware 58-55.
Darling has started in all 30 games, and is averaging 7.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and she leads the team blocking 28 shots. She is shooting 51 percent from the field and also has nine steals.
Darling was voted the Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, for her efforts against Murray State and UT Martin.
A transfer student out of Owens Community College, this was the seventh time Darling has been named the OVC Newcomer of the Week. Back in December, Darling was named the Newcomer of the Week four consecutive weeks.
Darling started the week with 11 points and six rebounds against Murray State. She followed up with 12 points and 11 rebounds against UT Martin, en route to her fifth career double-double.
In a game against Morehead State, Darling simply took over. With two of the league's leading candidates for Player of the Year on the floor, it was Darling's massive effort late in the first half that led Tennessee Tech to a rib-rattling 82-70 victory over Morehead State Saturday in the Eblen Center in front of a raucous crowd.
Darling recorded career-highs of 20 points and 15 rebounds, and added four blocked shots, as the Golden Eagles won their ninth straight. The win also avenged Tech's 25-point setback in Morehead in early January.
Darling went to work underneath, scoring 14 consecutive points and Tech turned the tide with a 12-0 run. Another Darling layup with seven seconds remaining sent the Golden Eagles to the break with a 10-point, 37-27 lead.
During her two seasons at Owens, Darling averaged 10.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.1 block shots per game for the Express. Last year, Darling averaged 13.6 points and was ranked 20th nationally in rebounds, averaging 11 per game. She earned first-team OCCAC all-conference honors, was named the team’s co-MVP, and holds school records for most rebounds in a single game (22) and blocks in a season (127).
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