April 14, 2011 — Senior University of Connecticut women’s basketball star Maya Moore has won the 2011 Honda Sports Award in basketball, designating her as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in that sport. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of program, now in its 35th year.
Moore has been nominated for the Honda Sports Award for basketball all four years of her college career and won the honor last year. Notably, because she also went on to win the Honda-Broderick Cup last year, signifying Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year honors, she now has a shot at making history as only the second athlete ever to repeat as Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Tracy Caulkins, a swimmer from the University of Florida, won the top honor twice (1982 and ’84).
The Honda Sports Award is given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic eligibility to become a “Top Three” finalist for Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year. Moore was voted over three other nominees for the 2011 award: sophomore Brittney Griner of Baylor University, senior Amber Harris of Xavier University and junior Nnemkadi Ogwumike of Stanford University. The candidates were selected by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
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Maya Moore, who was recently named the #1 draft pick for the WNBA and was chosen by the Minnesota Lynx, was born in Jefferson City, Missouri and grew up in Lawrenceville,
Georgia. During her college career, the star senior forward led her team to four Final Four appearances, two national titles and a 150-4 record. She is the fourth-leading scorer in NCAA history, with 3,036 points. Honored as the Capital One University Division Academic All-American of the Year and BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2010 and 2011, Moore was also selected as a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2009. A three-time WBCA Wade Trophy honoree and four-time WBCA State Farm First Team All-American, she won the Naismith Trophy, the Associated Press Player of the Year Award and the USBWA Player of the Year Award in 2009 and 2011. She was also the John R. Wooden Award honoree in 2009 and 2011.
Moore is one of only two players to earn AP First Team All-America status in each of her four years in college. She is the winner of the 2010-11 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award for women’s basketball, was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 NCAA Tournament and voted Most Outstanding Player of the Philadelphia Regional (2011), the Dayton Regional (2010) and the Trenton Regional (2009). She was also named BIG EAST Player of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and the 2009 and 2011 BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Moore finished her college career with 50 double-doubles and registered double-figure points in an NCAA record 149 games.
A student athlete whose academic prowess matches her outstanding achievement on the basketball court, Moore holds a 3.669 GPA in sports media and promotion. She is the winner of the NCAA Elite 88 Award for achieving the highest GPA of all student-athletes competing in the Final Four.
Continuing Tradition of Honda Award Winners from UConn
Moore’s win marks the ninth time that a University of Connecticut basketball player has been honored with the Honda Sports Award. In addition to her own win last year, previous Honda Sports Award winners from the University of Connecticut for basketball include: Rebecca Lobo (1995), Jennifer Rizzotti (1996), Shea Ralph (2000), Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2003, ’04) and Renee Montgomery (2009). Both Lobo and Rizzotti went on to win the Honda-Broderick Cup as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Last year, Maya Moore shared her Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year honor with volleyball star Megan Hodge of Penn State University.
Previously announced Honda Sports Award recipients include Katinka Hosszu from the University of Southern California for swimming & diving, Sheila Reid from Villanova University for cross-country, Katie O’Donnell from the University of Maryland for field hockey, Melissa Henderson from Notre Dame for soccer, and Blair Brown of Penn State University for volleyball. Honda Award winners in golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, softball, tennis, and track & field will be announced in the coming months. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions. On June 27, 2011, the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at a ceremony in New York, at which the “Top Three” finalists are scheduled to attend.
For more information about The Collegiate Women Sports Awards, please visit www.collegiatewomensportsawards.com .
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. has sponsored the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program for 26 consecutive years. Honda has donated over $2 million in grants and sponsorships to universities over the course of the program.
