UW-Green Bay's Soulis Named Player of the Year, UW-Milwaukee's Edwards and Botham Earn League's Other Women's Basketball Specialty Awards

Feb. 27, 2006

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INDIANAPOLIS -- University of Wisconsin-Green Bay junior forward Nicole Soulis picked up Player of the Year honors, while University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee freshman Traci Edwards and head coach Sandy Botham earned the Horizon League's Newcomer and Coach of the year, respectively, as the League office announced its women's basketball specialty awards and All-League teams on Monday (Feb. 27).

Soulis, who is the fifth Phoenix to win the award in the past eight seasons, lived up to her billing as the Preseason Player of the Year by leading the conference with an 18.9 points-per-game scoring average on 52.8 percent shooting during the regular season. The Green Bay, Wis., native has scored 20 or more points in a League-best 12 games with a season-high 28 points against Detroit on Feb. 1. She has notched five double-doubles this season and ranks fourth on the circuit's rebounding charts at 6.7 per outing, while leading the Phoenix to a share of the regular-season title.

Botham earned her third Horizon League Coach of the Year honor, leading the Panthers to a regular-season co-championship and the No. 1 seed in this year's tournament with a 14-2 mark in League play and a 19-8 record overall. Botham, who also received the award in 1997 and 2001, notched her 100th League win on Jan. 28 over Cleveland State. Her overall record with UWM stands at 162-118 and 108-44 in the Horizon League.

Edwards took the League by storm in her inaugural season. The 6-foot-3 center averaged a double-double of 16.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, good for third and first in the loop, respectively. The Menasha, Wis., native also paced all players in field-goal percentage (.589) and blocked shots (1.56). Edwards, who is the first Panther since Daryl Schaffeld in 1997 to win the award, has pulled down 10 or more rebounds in 15 of 27 games and has twice topped the 20-rebound mark.

Joining Edwards and Soulis on the First-Team All-League team are Nichole Drummond (UW-Milwaukee), Jackie Closser (Butler University) and Brittney Whiteside (Wright State University).

Drummond and Whiteside both earned spots on the first team after being named to the preseason team and last season's post-season first team, while Closser improved her billing from the preseason's second team.

Drummond earned the League's Player of the Week award in back-to-back weeks (Jan. 30-Feb. 5 and Feb. 6-12), finishing the regular season with the League's 11th-best scoring average at 12.6 points per game. Whiteside currently ranks in the top ten in scoring (14.0 - 8th), rebounding (6.7 - 5th), assists (3.04 - 7th) and steals (2.19 - 4th). Closser paces the loop in assists per game (5.42), assist/turnover ratio (1.93) and three-point field-goals made (3.04), while standing second in free-throw percentage (.858).

The second team features Lade Akande (Butler), Chrissy Dizon (University of Illinois at Chicago), LaShonda Grant (UIC), Marquise Hanser (Loyola University Chicago) and Natalie Berglin (UW-Green Bay).

Edwards headlines the All-Newcomer team that includes Akande, Dominique Butler (Cleveland State University), Rachel Porath (UW-Green Bay) and Meredith Onson (UW-Milwaukee).

The final All-League team announced on Monday was the All-Defensive team, which was voted on by the League's nine head coaches. In addition to being named to the All-Newcomer team, CSU's Dominique Butler was selected for the All-Defensive team and was joined by first-team selections Nichole Drummond and Brittney Whiteside. Second-team honoree Chrissy Dizon and Rhea Mays (Wright State) round out the defensive squad.

The Horizon League Championship begins on Tuesday (Feb. 28) when (#9 seed) Cleveland State visits (#8 seed) Loyola at 5:45 p.m. (Eastern time). The quarterfinal round will begin on Wednesday (Mar. 1) with (#4 seed) Butler hosting the University of Detroit Mercy for a 7 p.m. contest at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The game will be played on Wednesday due to a speech by former President George Bush on the Butler campus on Thursday. Thursday's slate of three games will all begin at 8 p.m.: (#1 seed) UW-Milwaukee welcomes the winner of the Loyola-Cleveland State contest to the Klotsche Center, (#7 seed) Youngstown State makes the trip to (#2 seed) UW-Green Bay and (#6 seed) Wright State will play at (#3 seed) UIC.

2005-06 All-Horizon League Specialty Awards and Teams

Player of the Year: Nicole Soulis, UW-Green Bay

Coach of the Year: Sandy Botham, UW-Milwaukee

Newcomer of the Year: Traci Edwards, UW-Milwaukee

First Team - Yr. - Pos. - School
Jackie Closser - Jr. - G - Butler
Nicole Soulis - Jr. - F - UW-Green Bay
Traci Edwards - Fr. - C - UW-Milwaukee
Nichole Drummond - Sr. - G/F - UW-Milwaukee
Brittney Whiteside - Jr. - G - Wright State

Second Team - Yr. - Pos. - School
Lade Akande - Fr. - F/C - Butler
Chrissy Dizon - Sr. - G - UIC
LaShonda Grant - Jr. - G - UIC
Marquise Hanser - Jr. - G - Loyola
Natalie Berglin - Jr. - G - UW-Green Bay

All-Newcomer - Yr. - Pos. - School
Lade Akande - Fr. - F/C - Butler
Traci Edwards - Fr. - C - UW-Milwaukee
Dominique Butler - Fr. - G - Cleveland State
Rachel Porath - Fr. - G - UW-Green Bay
Meredith Onson - So. - G - UW-Milwaukee

All-Defensive - Yr. - Pos. - School
Dominique Butler - Fr. - G - Cleveland State
Chrissy Dizon - Sr. - G - UIC
Nichole Drummond - Sr. - G/F - UW-Milwaukee
Rhea Mays - Sr. - G - Wright State
Brittney Whiteside - Jr. - G - Wright State