McFarland Named First Team All-Big 12, Ilic Earns Honorable Mention

BOULDER - University of Colorado junior forward Jackie McFarland has been named to the 2006-07 All-Big 12 Conference first team while senior guard/forward Jasmina Ilic received honorable mention to the All-Big 12 squad by a vote of league coaches the conference office announced on Friday.

McFarland is the second Buffalo to be named to the All-Big 12 first team joining center Tera Bjorklund who earned honors in both 2002-03 and 2003-04. Including awards from the Big Eight Conference (1982-96), she is CU's 11th first team all-conference pick. A 2005-06 All-Big 12 second team pick, she is just the third Buffalo to be cited in multiple years by the Big 12 joining Bjorklund and guard Jenny Roulier who was a three-time third team selection (1999-02).

A native of Derby, Kan., McFarland is the Big 12's leading field goal shooter at 61 percent, a mark that also ranks fifth in NCAA Division I through games of Feb. 25. She is second on the league charts in rebounding at 10.7 per game and third in scoring at 17.5 points per outing. McFarland also tops the conference in minutes (36.1 mpg) and ranks 11th in blocked shots (1.14 bpg) and 14th in free-throw percentage (.746).

McFarland is one of just two players in the Big 12 with 16 or more double-doubles this season and has missed five other opportunities by a single point or rebound.  Her 35 career double-doubles rank third on the Buffs' all-time list and she is one of just seven players in CU history with career numbers eclipsing 1,200 points and 700 rebounds.

She is the sixth player in team history with 300 rebounds in one season, and needs just one more to set the standard for juniors at CU as she's currently tied with Susan Horner (1977-78) right at 300. She was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the season's opening weekend (Nov. 13) and named to the Coors Classic All-Tournament Team.

Ilic is the eighth CU player to earn honorable mention to the All-Big 12 team and the first since Veronica Johns-Richardson in 2004-05.

Ilic is second on the team and 14th in the Big 12 in scoring at 12.5 points per game. She is 19th on CU's all-time scoring list with 1,069 points and ranks sixth in career 3-point field goals with 140.

She is one of the top free-throw shooters in the Big 12, ranking second on the league charts at 86.2 percent. Ilic reached 20 points or more in five games this season, including a team-best 29-point performance against Oklahoma on Jan. 20. She ranks eighth in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made at 1.64 per game.

Colorado opens 2007 Big 12 Championship tournament play as the No. 8 seed and will face No. 9 Texas Tech in a first round game on Tuesday, March 6, at 11 a.m. MST, at the COX Convention Center in Oklahoma City.