April 21, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
THREE BIG TEN STARS PICKED IN WNBA DRAFT
Three Big Ten standouts -- Iowa's Crystal Smith, Michigan State's Liz Shimek and Ohio State's Debbie Merrill -- were selected in the WNBA Draft on April 5. Shimek was taken in the second round as the 18th overall pick by the Phoenix Mercury, but was later traded to the Houston Comets. Merrill, who played her senior season with the Buckeyes after transferring from Cincinnati, was selected by the Connecticut Sun in the second round as the 28th pick overall. Smith, who just completed her senior season at Iowa, was also selected by Phoenix with the 32nd pick in the third round.
BUCKEYES' DAVENPORT NAMED ALL-AMERICA
Ohio State junior center and two-time reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Jessica Davenport earned All-America selections from both the Kodak/WBCA and Associated Press panels. Davenport, who was tabbed to the first team by Kodak/WBCA, became the first Buckeye to repeat on the Kodak team since former OSU standout Tracey Hall in the 1987 and 1988 seasons. Prior to receiving the Kodak honor, Davenport was named to the Associated Press, ESPN.com and United States Basketball Writers Association All-America teams for the second year in a row.
In addition, Kodak/WBCA named Iowa's Crystal Smith, Michigan State's Liz Shimek and Purdue's Katie Gearlds as honorable mentions, while Gearlds and Shimek also earned the recognition from the Associated Press as well.
SPARTANS' BOWEN GRABS 3-POINT TITLE
Michigan State senior guard Lindsay Bowen showed the nation one last time why she is the top long-range shooter in Spartan history. At the Dell College Slam Dunk and Three Point Shooting Championships on ESPN, Bowen, who finished her career the all-time leader at MSU in three-pointers (294) and three-point field-goal percentage (.401), won the State Farm Women's Three Point Championship and the Sprint Champions Challenge with a dominating performance. The event was held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis before a nationally-televised audience prior to the Men's Final Four. After tearing through the preliminary rounds, Bowen defeated Krista Rappahahn of Stanford in the women's final, then defeated Steve Novak of Marquette in the overall final.
In the overall final, Bowen crushed Novak to win the overall championship. Bowen was on fire, hitting 21 of her 25 shots - including 13 in a row at one point and making all five of her money balls that were worth two points - for a score of 26 points, the best of the night. Novak had 17 points.
BIG TEN BOASTS 40+ ACADEMIC STANDOUTS
For the fourth-consecutive season, Big Ten women's basketball honored over 40 Academic All-Big Ten standouts. A total of 42 student-athletes were recognized in 2005-06, including Academic All-Americans Liz Shimek of Michigan State (First Team) and Minnesota's April Calhoun (Third Team).
CURRY DEPARTS PURDUE FOR TEXAS TECH
Kristy Curry has left Purdue to become the new women's basketball head coach at Texas Tech University. Curry recently completed her seventh year at Purdue, where she began her head coaching career in April 1999. During her time in West Lafayette, Curry guided the Boilermakers to a 179-51 record, two Big Ten regular-season championships, three Big Ten Tournament titles, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, and a national runner-up finish in 2001.
INDIANA'S VERSYP MOVES TO PURDUE
Sharon Versyp was introduced as the new Purdue women's basketball head coach on April 10. She returns to her alma mater after one year as head coach at Indiana, where she guided the Hoosiers to a 19-14 overall record and a 9-7 Big Ten mark. The turnaround from a 10-18 (3-13) campaign in 2004-05 stands as the second-best improvement in Indiana history. Versyp was a four-year letterwinner for the Boilermakers from 1985-88 and is still one of only seven players in Purdue history to start all four years.
HOOSIERS HIRE FORMER SPARTAN ASSISTANT
On April 19, Indiana announced the hiring of Felisha Legette-Jack as its eighth women's basketball head coach. Legette-Jack owns 15 years of Division I college coaching experience, including assistant stops at Michigan State, Syracuse and Boston College and most recently the last four years as the head coach at Hofstra University. An assistant under Michigan State's Joanne P. McCallie for two years (2000-02), Legette-Jack arrives in Bloomington after directing Hofstra to a 19-12 overall record and 12-6 Colonial Athletic Association mark in 2005-06, culminating in a Women's National Invitation Tournament appearance.
BIG TEN GRABS THREE OF TOP 16 SEEDS
The Big Ten snagged three of the top 16 seeds in this year's NCAA Championship, which tied for the most by any conference (ACC, Big East, SEC). Ohio State earned a No. 1 seed, followed by No. 4 Michigan State and No. 4 Purdue.
ANOTHER "ONE" FOR THE BIG TEN
For the third consecutive season, a Big Ten team earned a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championship. Ohio State earned its second No. 1 seed in program history in 2006, while Michigan State proved its top seed last year by playing in the national championship final. Penn State was one of four top-seeds in the 2004 tournament. The Buckeyes were the ninth overall top-seed in Big Ten history. Iowa earned the league's first two top-seeds in 1988 and 1992, while Ohio State was No. 1 in 1993 and both Penn State and Purdue were No. 1 seeds in 1994. The Boilermakers staked claim to the top seed in 1999 and captured the conference's lone national championship. Penn State also earned a top seed in 1991, however that was prior to joining the Big Ten.
SIX FOR FIVE
For the sixth consecutive season, the Big Ten sent five or more teams to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. The conference sent five teams to the 2001, 2005 and 2006 tournaments and tied the league high of six teams in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
BIG TEN RATES AMONG TOURNEY'S BEST
Ohio State, Northwestern and Illinois were three of the 32 teams selected to play in the first NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament in 1982, tipping off what would become the Big Ten's outstanding legacy in the event. Since the championship's inception, the Big Ten has earned 100 invitations to the Big Dance. That ranks as the third-highest total behind the SEC (153) and the ACC (110). Purdue led the conference field this past year with its 17th NCAA appearance overall, followed by Iowa (16th), Ohio State (15th), Michigan State (7th) and Minnesota (6th).
BIG TEN TOURNEY WINS BREED NCAA SUCCESS
Recent history has shown that winning in the Big Ten Tournament breeds success for conference teams in the NCAA Tournament. Since 1995, the teams that have won the Big Ten Women's Tournament have combined to post a 26-11 (.703) record in the NCAA Championship. Purdue captured the league's first-ever NCAA women's title in 1999 after winning the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Penn State appeared in the 2000 NCAA Final Four after finishing as the runner-up in that year's Big Ten Tournament, while Purdue made an appearance in the 2001 National Championship game after also finishing second in that year's conference tournament. With the return of Lindsay Whalen after the 2004 Big Ten Tournament, Minnesota went on to its first Final Four appearance in school history. Top-seeded Michigan State, the 2005 Tournament Champion, finished 5-1 after falling to Baylor in the national championship game. Ohio State, a No. 1 seed in 2006, posted a 1-1 record in NCAA tournament play.
FINAL FOUR FAMILIARITY
Big Ten teams have competed in five of the last eight Women's Final Fours and seven overall. Ohio State and Iowa squared off against each other in the league's first Final Four appearance in 1993. The Buckeyes won that tilt before falling to Texas Tech in the national final. Purdue followed up in 1994, advancing to it's first Final Four, where it fell to North Carolina in the semifinals. The third time was the charm for the league, as Purdue defeated Duke, 62-45, to claim the Big Ten's first and only national championship. Penn State made an appearance in 2000, bowing to eventual national champion Connecticut in the semifinals. The Boilermakers made it three in a row for the Big Ten in 2001 when they fought their way to the championship final against Notre Dame. Purdue fell to the Irish, 68-66, in one of the closest finishes in tournament history. The game was one of five NCAA Championship finals to be decided by two points or less. After a two-year hiatus, Minnesota returned the Big Ten to the national semifinals in 2004 and was followed by Michigan State in 2005, which advanced to the championship game.
ILLINOIS AND INDIANA FINISH WNIT PLAY
The Big Ten fielded two league squads -- Illinois and Indiana -- for the 2006 Postseason WNIT. The 2006 season marked the second straight season the conference sent a pair of teams to the WNIT, as Illinois and Iowa were participants in 2005. The postseason WNIT is an event that the Big Ten has won three times since 1998, most recently in 2001 when Ohio State defeated New Mexico.
OSU EARNS FIRST OUTRIGHT TITLE IN 20 YEARS
In 2006, Ohio State clinched its first outright Big Ten crown since the 1985-86 season. It was the ninth conference championship and fourth outright league title for the Buckeyes. The championship also marked the first time OSU won back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles since 1985-86 and 1986-87. Ohio State also claimed the 2006 Big Ten Tournament and its second-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championship. Prior to its final loss in NCAA play, OSU had posted a win streak of 20 games, matched the school record, set back during the 1984-85 campaign.
DAVENPORT REPEATS AS BIG TEN SCORING QUEEN
Ohio State's Jessica Davenport closed out the regular season repeating as the Big Ten's scoring leader. The Buckeye center racked up 327 points in 16 conference games for an average of 20.4 points per game. She was 2.5 points better than runner-up Cyndi Valentin of Indiana, who averaged 17.9 per contest. Davenport was just the third Buckeye to win the scoring title and the third to claim two straight as well. Nikita Lowry won the crown in 1987-88 (23.7 ppg) and 1988-89 (18.9), and Katie Smith was the league's top scorer in 1993-94 (22.4) and 1994-95 (21.2). The last player to win back-to-back scoring titles was Penn State's Kelly Mazzante, who earned three straight from 2001-2003.
SKOUBY TOP-SCORING FROSH SINCE `01
Third place in the conference scoring race went to Iowa freshman Megan Skouby (16.8 ppg), which marked the highest finish for a freshman since Penn State's Kelly Mazzante won the scoring title as a newcomer at 19.7 points per game in 2000-01. In 2004-05, Wisconsin freshman Jolene Anderson averaged more points than Skouby at 18.1 points per contest, but was fourth in conference scoring.
WILBURN STEALS HER WAY TO THE TOP
Kim Wilburn, Ohio State's school record holder in steals, finished her career second all-time in Big Ten history with 358 swipes. The Big Ten record holder is Michigan's Stacey Thomas (`96-00) at 372.
OHIO STATE'S FOSTER EARNS WIN NO. 600
With a win on Feb. 20 against Michigan State, Ohio State head coach Jim Foster became the third current coach in the Big Ten to possess 600 career victories. He joined Illinois' Theresa Grentz (652-299, 32 seasons) and Penn State's Rene Portland (678-249, 31 seasons) in the league and is the 12th active coach in the nation to amass 600 career wins. Foster has recorded his 606 career wins at three different stops in 28 seasons as a Division I head coach. Since 1978, Foster has found success at St. Joseph's (248-126, 1978-91), Vanderbilt (256-99, 1991-2002) and Ohio State (102-28, 2002-present).
ILLINOIS' GRENTZ CAPTURES CAREER WIN NO. 650
Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz became the 10th Division I coach to reach 650 wins for her career, following a road win at Michigan on the last day of the regular season. Grentz, who just finished her 32nd season overall and 11th at Illinois, has coached in 951 games and has won 652 (.686) of those contests. Penn State's Rene Portland is already a member of the 650-win club, having won 678 career games.
PAIR OF SPARTANS FINISH 1-2 IN MSU SCORING
Two Spartan seniors finished their careers in 2006 as the first and second scorers in school history. Liz Shimek finished as the record holder with 1,780 points, while teammate Lindsay Bowen placed second all-time at 1,739. During the 2005-06 season, both Spartans eclipsed the previous record of 1,668, set by Kisha Kelley.
