Tulsa guard Allison Curtin and Louisiana Tech center Cheryl Ford were chosen as two of the nation's top-20 seniors and have been selected to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 2003 All-Star Challenge. The 6th Annual WBCA All-Star Challenge will take place on Friday, April 4 at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum as part of a doubleheader prelude to the NCAA Women's Final Four in Atlanta, Georgia.
The WBCA All-Star Challenge features 17 of the top senior NCAA Division I players, voted on by Division I Head Coaches, and the NCAA Division II, III and NAIA top senior vote getters in The State Farm Player of the Year ballots, to go head-to-head in an action-packed game of women's basketball.
A 2003 Western Athletic Conference first team performer and a member of the all-WAC Newcomer squad, Curtin's season averages included 23.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.2 steals per game and she also recorded 10 double doubles. She ranked first among WAC players in points, scoring, free throws made, free throws attempted, field goals made, field goals attempted, free throw percentage and steals.
Ford is a two-time WAC Player of the Year and leads the league rebounds per game and is third in the nation. She has led the Lady Techsters to their second WAC Tournament Championship game. Louisiana Tech is currently riding a 26-game winning streak, longest in the narion.
A slew of outstanding perimeter players who will be participating in the contest includes Curtin Tennessee's Kara Lawson, Notre Dame's Alicia Ratay, Villanova's Trish Juhline, UCLA's Michelle Greco and Clemson's Chrissy Floyd.
Dominating the inside will be the second half of Vanderbilt's dynamic duo, Chantelle Anderson, Mississippi State's star post player, LaToya Thomas, Tennessee's Gwen Jackson, Plenette Pierson of Texas Tech and Jocelyn Penn out of South Carolina.
Past stars of the All-Star Challenge include: Semeka Randall (Seattle Storm), Marie Ferdinand (Utah Starzz), Chamique Holdsclaw (Washington Mystics), Ticha Penicherio (Sacramento Monarchs), Kelly Miller (Charlotte Sting); Coco Miller (Washington Mystics); Murriel Page (Washington Mystics), Olympia Scott-Richardson (Indiana Fever); Cindy Blodgett (Sacramento Monarchs) and many more stars of the WNBA.
Last year's WBCA All-Star Challenge took a different twist, as the college all-stars took on the USA Basketball Women's National Team. The 2002 WBCA All-Star Challenge squad was led by the MVP performance of Danielle Crockrom (San Antonio Silver Stars), however the USA Basketball Women's National Team prevailed with a 100-59 victory behind a double-double performance of 30 points and 10 rebounds from WNBA superstar Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks).
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association promotes women's basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport of women's basketball and to foster and promote the development of the game of basketball as an amateur sport for women and girls. For more information on the WBCA, visit WBCA.org.