Women's Basketball Celebrates Season At Awards Banquet
BOULDER - The University of Colorado women's basketball team celebrated the 2010-11 season with its annual awards banquet attended by nearly 200 school administrators, family members, donors and fans Sunday afternoon at the Byron R. White Club Level of Folsom Field.
Colorado's coaching staff recognized all nine letterwinners, including the Buffaloes' senior class of Britney Blythe, Chelsea Dale and Brittany Spears, each earning their fourth team letter. First-year head coach Linda Lappe and her staff also handed out several individual awards.
Sophomore Meagan Malcolm-Peck received the Crystal Ford-Adams Scholar-Athlete Award. An Academic All-Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball second team selection, Malcolm-Peck sports a 3.2 cumulative GPA, majoring in business. Ford-Adams, who played for Colorado from 1985-89, was on hand to present the award to Malcolm-Peck who averaged seven points and 4.6 rebounds for the Buffaloes this season.
Spears received the Lisa Van Goor rebounding award after leading the Buffaloes at 8.1 boards per contest. The award was presented by Van Goor, CU's all-time leading rebounder who also took time to acknowledge Spears passing her as the school's all-time leading scorer stating if anyone was going to pass her scoring mark, she was proud that it was her. Spears ranked third in the Big 12 in rebounding as a senior and her 277 boards ties former teammate Jackie McFarland (2005-06) for 12th on CU's single-season charts.
Coach Lappe also presented Spears with a commemorative ball representing her 2,000th career point milestone.
Blythe took home the Defensive MVP award. A 5-6 guard, Blythe routinely was matched up against the opponents' top player, including some of the top back court players in the nation. Blythe also took care of the ball in impressive fashion, leading the Buffaloes in fewest turnovers and also topping all Big 12 players in turnover average over a 40 minute game at just 1.49. Blythe ranked third on the team in minutes this season, and picked up her offense late in the season, finishing with 35 3-point field goals.
A fitting tradition was started Sunday tying in the past with the new era of Colorado women's basketball as the team gave out the initial Ceal Barry Colorado Pride Award. Named after and presented by the CU Athletic Hall of Fame coach, Barry announced junior forward Julie Seabrook as its inaugural recipient. In the spirit of the Coaches Award given out by Barry during her 22-year career on the Buffaloes bench, Seabrook earned the honor after displaying leadership and a positive attitude in all facets of the student-athlete experience.
Seabrook is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 pick and CU's Big 12 2011 Winter Chick-fil-A Community of Champions honoree given out for academics, community service, leadership and sportsmanship. Barry also noted Seabrook's hard work on the court, starting all 34 games and lauded the importance of her presence on the court regardless of statistics. Barry noted Colorado's upset win over No. 17/16 Iowa State, where Seabrook didn't score a point, but played 38 minutes contributing to the win. Seabrook led Colorado in field-goal percentage at 48.3 percent while averaging 5.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Colorado ended the 2010-11 season 18-16 overall, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Postseason WNIT. The Buffaloes will usher in the Pac-12 Conference era beginning with the 2011-12 season.