Six Players Presented With Awards
April 23, 2008
ST. LOUIS - Sophomore guard Theresa Lisch (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) was named Most Valuable Player, and five other players were recognized for their accomplishments at the Saint Louis women's basketball annual awards banquet held recently at Chaifetz Arena. Senior guard Hayley Leake (Silex, Mo./Silex) earned Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Leake and sophomore center Amanda Kemezys (Fairview Heights/Belleville East) shared Practice Player of the Year laurels, presented to the player or players who consistently display the highest level of effort in daily practices. Senior guard Jackie Gilbert (Jonesboro, Ark./Jonesboro) was named Most Improved Player. Junior forward Heather King (Palos Hills, Ill./Stagg) collected the Coaches Award as the player who best exemplifies going above and beyond what is expected of her. Junior forward Jameela Haynes (Miami, Fla./Pace) was presented the Billiken Award, given to the player who best exemplifies a combination of passion, leadership, selflessness and community involvement. Lisch was chosen to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference third team, the Division I-AAA National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Scholar-Athlete Team and the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII second team. In A-10 games only, she ranked fifth in scoring (16.5 ppg), seventh in free-throw percentage (83.8 percent), 10th in minutes (33.8 mpg) and tied for 10th in 3-point field goals (1.64 pg).
In all games, Lisch led the Billikens in scoring (16.8 ppg), free-throw percentage (88.2 percent), free throws made and attempted (112-of-127), 3-point field goals (39) and steals (34) while averaging 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest. She was named the A-10 co-Player of the Week Dec. 24 after netting a school-record-tying 35 points at Florida, the top scoring performance by an A-10 women's player this season. Leake, who was regularly assigned to defend the opponent's top backcourt player, averaged 6.1 ppg and 2.3 rpg in all games and led SLU with 94 assists and 1,009 minutes played. She finished fifth in the conference in minutes played (35.6 mpg) and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.68) in A-10 competition. Kemezys, the only Billiken to start all 30 games, averaged 10.6 ppg and led Saint Louis with 7.6 rpg and 32 blocks. In A-10 contests, she ranked sixth in the league in rebounding (7.5 rpg) and eighth in free-throw percentage (83.3 percent). Gilbert played in all 30 games and collected 110 points, 55 rebounds, 30 assists and 12 steals. King started the last 12 games of the season and became one of the league's best offensive rebounders, averaging 3.2 offensive boards in A-10 games to rank third in the conference. Haynes saw action in 14 games and contributed six points and 16 rebounds. |
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