Awards for my peeps

Risper Rules

Shoot, with all the excitement of the Elite Eight, I missed this when it was announced, but Vanderbilt’s Jennifer Risper was named WBCA National Defensive Player of the Year. Risper, who is only 5-9, shifted down low to the post for Vandy this season due to key injuries for the ‘Dores, but excelled on the defensive end despite often guarding players half a foot taller than herself. She shut down Auburn standout Dewanna Bonner in the SEC Tournament and kept Maryland all-everything Marissa Coleman in check for the most part in the Sweet Sixteen. If she hadn’t gotten into foul trouble against the Terps, I think the ‘Dores could still be dancin’ in St. Louis.

In addition to being an annoying defensive presence, Risper proved to be a heck of a senior leader for the ‘Dores, going so far as to throw her own teammates out of their posh locker room midseason to inspire them to play better. It worked, and the ‘Dores went on to win the SEC Tourney and make a valiant run through the NCAAs.

All-American as Appel (pi?)

There’s like two million different All-American teams, and I have no idea which one is the most respected, but hey, national respect is national respect, right? And Stanford’s Jayne Appel earned herself some, being named to the Associated Press All-America Second Team. Appel, who is also a Wade Trophy player of the year finalist, may be the best all-around post in the nation. But Monday night in the Elite Eight, Appel showed she can also dominate a game, dropping 46 points and 16 rebounds on Iowa State and leaving the Cyclones’ head spinning. Let’s hope she can add a 2009 Final Four MVP to her trophy case next week.

4/4/09 Edit: One more AA honor for Appel! Big Jayne named today to the State Farm All-America Team. This one I think is the most prestigious one! (It used to be the Kodak All-American team.)

Kahle Big Sky POTW

Portland State guard/forward Kelsey Kahle was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week today after averaging 29.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists for the Vikings in two games last week.

Kahle tied a Big Sky conference record with 41 points in an 80-72 win over Sacramento State Thursday night. She went 16-of-21 from the field and made 9-of-12 free throws against the Hornets. She became just the second Portland State player ever to break the 40 point mark.

Kahle added 18 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots in a 76-71 win over Idaho State Saturday.

It was the third time this season and fifth time in her career that Kahle earned the Big Sky weekly honor.

Smith WAC POTW

Wahine junior forward Tanya Smith was named the WAC player of the week today after averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds in two games last week.

Smith scored 24 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds in a 71-61 win over Idaho Jan. 17. Smith made her first 10 shots from the field and finished 11-for-12, or 92 percent from the floor.

Smith added 12 points and 13 boards in a 62-53 loss to Boise State Jan. 20. It was Smith’s third double-double in four games and fourth on the season.

In conference-only games this season, Smith is leading the WAC averaging 11.5 rebounds per game and is third in scoring at 17.2 ppg. Her overall average of 8.9 rebounds per game is good for fourth among WAC overall leaders.

It was Smith’s first career conference honor. She is the first Rainbow Wahine to earn the weekly honor this season.

STAN’s classic awards

STAN makes his reappearance in the ol’ journal!

its basketball season which means the return of me (stan) in lori’s journal. i mean, even with a xanga and friendster page, i choose to write in lori’s journal.

additions to lori’s all-tournament list from the rainbow wahine classic: i need to spend more time in the gym award: hartford. leading by 17 against virginia, the hawks nearly blew it with horrid free throw shooting in the second half. kudos to the hawks for attempting 36 free throws. but when you miss 16 of them … that’s killing yourself.
honorable mention: rainbow wahine- 2-of-18 from 3-point range. ouch!

best dressed: hands down, hartford coach jen rizzotti who refused to buy into the aloha spirit.

i made the most of my hawai`i trip award: i wonder how hartford coach kris lamb got that red lobster tan despite last week’s rainy weather.

back to school drive award: the hartford manager or whoever that borrowed a pen from me. somebody buy that girl a 10-pack of bic pens.

almost famous award: montana’s brooklynn lorenzen who claimed in the media guide she’s j-lo’s sister.

AAA award: word has it that montana coach robin selvig is a “very bad driver.”

best cheerleader award: uh diving coach mike brown. who else can rile up a bunch of texans than a former texan?

i smell like ross award: the referee (name withheld) who sat next to me and smelled like she drowned in a tub of perfume … or spent most of her life at ross department store.

on a final note, color was the theme of this year’s tourney. there was really, really bright flourescent colours (see lori’s picks) and apparently, pink became everybody’s school colours on sunday. several of the hartford fans wore pink, along with the virginia managers and texas coach jody conradt. did we miss the dress code memo? also, i concluded lori’s favorite colour is burnt sienna cause she used that word one too many times over a 24-hour period. i’m also recovering from 11 games of basketball. at first, i was pretty pumped at covering the tourney, even arriving a hour early on friday. sunday nite, i declared i can’t watch another basketball game for awhile. monday morning, i was experiencing withdrawals.

Lori: STAN doesn’t believe in capitalization.