The University of Mississippi Athletics
Price And Watts Earn All-SEC Honors
3/1/2005 | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Southeastern Conference announced its 2005 women's basketball postseason awards Wednesday, highlighted by LSU's Seimone Augustus being named Player of the Year, Georgia's Tasha Humphrey as the Freshman of the Year and Ole Miss' Armintie Price being named Defensive Player of the Year. Price, a sophomore, also earned first team All-SEC honors along with Augustus and Humphrey, while senior Amber Watts earned second team honors.
First-team and second-team All-SEC honorees, All-Freshman team, along with Player, Coach and Freshman, Defensive Player, 6th Woman and Scholar-Athlete of the Year were chosen by the league's 12 coaches.
"We are extremely proud of Armintie and Amber," said Ole Miss head coach Carol Ross. "Any time you have athletes earn awards like these it is a strong indicator of good team play. They have each had great seasons, but they could not do it alone. These are awards each girl on our team can feel a part of."
Augustus, Humphrey, Tan White of Mississippi State and Ashley Earley of Vanderbilt were all unanimous selections to the All-SEC First team. Also joining Price on the prestigious team were Natasha Brackett of Auburn, Temeka Johnson of LSU and Shyra Ely of Tennessee.
In being named to the second team, Watts earned all-conference honors for the first time in her career. She was joined on the second team by: Bernice Mosby of Florida, Sara Potts of Kentucky, Sylvia Fowles of LSU, Shanna Zolman of Tennessee, Monique Bivins of Alabama and Carla Thomas and Dee Davis of Vanderbilt.
"This is definitely a team award," said Watts, a native of Utica, Miss. "I have a job to do night in and night out, but my job is made a lot easier because I am surrounded by such hard working teammates."
In addition to earning first team All-SEC honors, Price earned her first Defensive Player of the Year award. The 5-9 guard-forward led the SEC in rebounding (10.3) and steals (3.08).
"It is great to be honored by the other coaches in the conference," said Price, who was named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2004. "I am very flattered, but I don't worry about awards when I step on the court. I just go out and play as hard as I can. Helping my team get a win is the most rewarding thing for me."
Humphrey was named SEC Freshman of the Year and fellow freshman phenom Fowles of LSU earned Sixth Woman of the Year honors.
Arkansas' Sarah Pfeifer was named the second annual SEC Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
LSU's Pokey Chatman was named SEC Coach of the Year in her first season as head coach of the Lady Tigers. This season LSU finished the regular season with a 27-1 overall record and a perfect 14-0 conference record. Chatman led the Lady Tigers to their first SEC regular season title.
The 2005 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament begins Thursday, March 3 and runs through Sunday, March 6 in Greenville, South Carolina. FSN South will televise all games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday while ESPN2 will broadcast the championship game at 6 p.m. CT.
Ole Miss, as the fifth seed, will face-off against 12th seeded South Carolina at 6 p.m. CT, on Thursday. The winner between the Lady Rebels and Gamecocks will take on fourth seeded Georgia at 6 p.m. CT, on Friday.
The complete 2005 SEC Women's Basketball Postseason Awards follow.
First Team All-SEC
Natasha Brackett, Auburn
*Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
*Seimone Augustus, LSU
Temeka Johnson, LSU
Armintie Price, Ole Miss
*Tan White, Mississippi State
Shyra Ely, Tennessee
*Ashley Earley, Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Monique Bivins, Alabama
Bernice Mosby, Florida
Sara Potts, Kentucky
Sylvia Fowles, LSU
Amber Watts, Ole Miss
Shanna Zolman, Tennessee
Carla Thomas, Vanderbilt
Dee Davis, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Alexis Ogubie, Auburn
Megan Darrah, Georgia
*Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
Sarah Elliott, Kentucky
Samantha Mahoney, Kentucky
Quianna Chaney, LSU
*Sylvia Fowles, LSU
*Alexis Hornbuckle, Tennessee
*Nikki Anosike, Tennessee
Coach of the Year: Pokey Chatman, LSU
Player of the Year: Seimone Augustus, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
Defensive Player of the Year: Armintie Price, Ole Miss
6th Woman of the Year: Sylvia Fowles, LSU
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Sarah Pfeifer, Arkansas
