Voting Underway to Select Five-Player Wooden All American team and Wooden Award Winner

LOS ANGELES (March 16, 2010) – The John R. Wooden Award Committee announced the student-athletes named to the official John R. Wooden Award National Ballot today. The ballot decides the Women’s 2010 Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year, presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate female basketball player.

A distinguished panel of voters, comprised of sports media members and college basketball experts from around the nation, have until 3 p.m. EST on Monday March 30 to cast their votes, a long voting period that allows voters to evaluate players up through games of the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. All players on the ballots have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA.

Last year’s Wooden Award winner, Maya Moore of No. 1-ranked Connecticut, returns to the 2010 ballot. She is averaging 18.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists.   In addition to Moore, six other players return from the 2009 Wooden Award ballot: Jayne Appel of Stanford; the nation’s top scorer, Alysha Clark of Middle Tennessee; Jantel Lavender of Ohio State; Xavier’s Ta’Shia Phillips; Oklahoma State’s Andrea Riley; and Monica Wright of Virginia.

The undefeated Huskies and No. 2 Stanford each had three players chosen to the 22-woman ballot. Joining Moore on the list for UConn are Tina Charles, her team’s top scorer and rebounder; and Kalana Greene. Appel, Kayla Pedersen and Nnemkadi Ogwumike are the Cardinal’s three honorees. For the first time ever, Xavier boasts two players on the Wooden Award ballot: Phillips and Amber Harris. Ohio State’s Samantha Prahalis and Lavender also were chosen.

A record 10 conferences had players chosen to the ballot, with no conference having more than three selections. The three UConn and Stanford players were the Big East and Pac-10’s only representatives. The Big 12 and CAA also have three players on the ballot, followed by the Big 10, SEC, Atlantic 10 and ACC with two apiece. The WCC and Sun Belt each have one player selected. Twenty of the 22 players on the final ballot will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Six players made the Wooden Award ballot who were not on the Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 list: Greene, Ogwumike, Phillips, Prahalis, Riley and Danielle Robinson of Oklahoma. Elena Delle Donne of Delaware (26.9 ppg, No. 2 in NCAA) is the only freshman on the ballot.