University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Shavonte Zellous Named To WBCA Region I All-America Team
3/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 17, 2009
PITTSBURGH -
Pitt senior guard Shavonte Zellous was named to the State Farm Coaches’ Region I All-America team, as voted on by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The list of 52 nation-wide candidates will be cut to 40 finalists, who will be in the running for the 10-member State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team.
Zellous (Orlando, Fla./Jones) finished second in the Big East in scoring and is currently seventh in the country with a 22.5 points per game average. Entering the NCAA Tournament, she is just eight points from breaking the 24-year-old single-season points record at Pitt, which has stood at 681 during that time.
Also this season, Zellous became the first player in Pitt history (men’s or women’s) and just the ninth in Big East history (men’s or women’s) to score 600 points in three separate seasons. The unanimous selection to the All-Big East first team reached the 2,000-point milestone earlier this season, and scored the second 1,000 of her 2,000 points in just 49 games.
This year, Zellous has already been named to the Wooden Award midseason list and has been the Big East Player of the Week three times. In the preseason, she was also named to the State Farm Wade Trophy candidate list as well as a unanimous preseason All-Big East selection. Zellous also graced the Lindy’s, Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News’ preseason All-America teams.
Following the regular season, Zellous was awarded with her third First Team All-Big East honor, making her the first in Pitt history to earn first team honors three times. For her efforts in the conference tournament, she was named to the Big East All-Tournament team.
Zellous joins eight other Big East representatives on the list, making up the most from any conference. The nine include: Tina Charles (Connecticut), Angel McCoughtry (Louisville), Maya Moore (Connecticut), Renee Montgomery (Connecticut), Deirdre Naughton (DePaul), Epiphanny Prince (Rutgers), Kia Vaughn (Rutgers), Natasha Williams (DePaul) and Zellous.
Zellous will help lead the No. 4-seeded Panthers through the NCAA Tournament as they meet up with Montana in a first round matchup on March 21 in Seattle, Wash. Game time is set for 8 p.m. EST with live coverage on ESPN2. For further information on Pitt in the NCAA Tournament, please visit www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
