INDIANAPOLIS – Green Bay senior Julie Wojta was tabbed the Horizon League Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year highlighting the Horizon League’s 2011-12 Women’s Basketball All-League Teams and specialty award winners in voting of the League’s coaches, sports information directors and media.
Detroit’s Shareta Brown and Wright State’s Kim Demmings, who are the top two scoring freshman in the country, shared Newcomer of the Year honors. Demmings averaged 17.9 ppg., this season, finishing third in the conference. Brown averaged 17.1 ppg., and led the conference in field goal percentage connecting on 55.7 percent of her field goal attempts.
Wojta’s coach, Matt Bollant, repeated as Coach of the Year after leading the Phoenix to a 17-1 mark in conference play and 27-1 record overall. It is Bollant’s fourth Coach of the Year honor in his five seasons at Green Bay. The Phoenix have an 85-5 mark
Detroit junior Yar Shayok, who ranked 11th in the conference grabbing 6.9 rebounds per game, collected the Sixth Player of the Year award.
Wojta, the only player in the NCAA to rank in the top-30 in points, rebounds and steals per game, led the conference in all three categories in the regular season for Green Bay. She was recently a midseason addition to the Wade Trophy Watch List and was named a Capital One Academic All-America Second Team selection. She enters the tournament with averages of 19.8 ppg., 10.3 rpg., and 3.5 spg.
Wojta was joined on the first team by Brown, Demmings, Cleveland State’s Shalonda Winton (18.4 ppg., 9.9 rpg.) and UIC’s Jasmine Bailey (17.6 ppg., 9.7 rpg.)
The All-League Second Team consisted of Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown (16.3 ppg., 9.1 rpg.), Wright State’s Molly Fox (16.0 ppg., 10.0 rpg.), Green Bay’s Adrian Ritchie (12.2 ppg., 3.1 apg.), UIC’s Shamiea Green (16.2 ppg., 3.7 apg.) and Butler’s Sarah Hamm (11.1 ppg., 1.7 bpg.)
Brown and Demmings led the All-Newcomer selections and were joined by Milwaukee freshman Ashley Green and junior transfer Patrice King of Loyola. Green came on as the season progressed, averaging 12.2 ppg., in League play. King finished the season averaging 11.7 ppg, and ranked third in the conference in free throw percentage making 81.8 percent of her attempts.
First-Team All-League members Wojta, Bailey and Winton also were part of the All-Defensive Team. Joining the trio were Butler’s Jenna Cobb and Valparaiso’s Laura Richards. Cobb tied Wojta’s conference record with 12 steals in Butler’s win over Loyola this season. Richards finished second in the conference in steals (2.8 spg.), while helping Valparaiso finish second in the conference in scoring defense.
The 2012 Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship tip-offs on Monday, March 5 with two first round games on campus sites. The top-six seeds begin action on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. The Horizon League title game will be played at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 11, on ESPNU.
2012 Horizon League Awards
Player of the Year
Julie Wojta, Green Bay
Co-Newcomers of the Year
Shareta Brown, Detroit and Kim Demmings, Wright State
Defensive Player of the Year
Julie Wojta, Green Bay
Sixth Player of the Year
Yar Shayok, Detroit
Coach of the Year
Matt Bollant, Green Bay
All-League Teams
First Team
Julie Wojta, Sr., G/F....................Green Bay
Shalonda Winton, Jr., F........... Cleveland State
Shareta Brown, Fr., F........................... Detroit
Kim Demmings, Fr., G.................Wright State
Jasmine Bailey, Sr., G/F..........................UIC
Second Team
Brandi Brown, Jr., F..............Youngstown State
Molly Fox, Sr., F........................... Wright State
Adrian Ritchie, Jr., G.......................Green Bay
Shamiea Green, Sr., G............................. UIC
Sarah Hamm, So., C...............................Butler
All-Newcomer Team
Kim Demmings, Fr., G.................Wright State
Shareta Brown, Fr., F........................... Detroit
Simone Law, Fr., F............................. Loyola
Ashley Green, Fr., G/F.................... Milwaukee
Patrice King, Jr., G................................ Loyola
All-Defensive Team
Julie Wojta, Sr., G/F....................Green Bay
Jasmine Bailey, Sr., G/F..........................UIC
Shalonda Winton, Jr., F........ Cleveland State
Jenna Cobb, So., G........................... Butler
Laura Richards, Jr., G....................Valparaiso
