The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Women's Basketball Holds Awards Banquet
4/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
April 24, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB women's basketball team held its annual postseason banquet Saturday night at the Green and Gold Room in Bartow Arena. Junior Carmen Guzman was honored as the Blazers' Most Valuable Player and was named the Best Offensive Player for the 2005-06 season.
Guzman was named the Best Offensive Player and the team MVP for the second-consecutive year after leading the team with 16.0 points a game, 84 assists and 51 steals. Guzman's scoring average was the highest average of her career.
Freshman Britney Jones was named the Newcomer of the Year. The Chicago native finished the season with a 12.1 points per game average and hit a team-best 55 three pointers during the campaign. Junior Crystal McFadden was awarded the Best Conditioned Athlete Award. McFadden finished the season with 13.4 points a game, while playing a team-best 32.7 minutes per contest.
Sophomore Christon Ingram received the Chairman of the Boards Award after leading the Blazers with 5.9 rebounds a game. Freshman Brianna Berry was honored with the Free Throw Percentage Award. The Flint, Mich., native drained 38-of-48 attempts from the charity stripe, an impressive 79.2 percent.
Junior Candace White was awarded the Academic Award. While senior Larezia Williams was named the squad's Unsung Hero for the second-straight season.
Head coach Audra Smith took the podium for the night's final three recognitions. Ian Potter, the team's academic advisor, was awarded the Coaches Award, given to the administrator who has shown tremendous support of the team and coaches throughout the season.
Smith then recognized the three seniors from this season's squad. Deirdre Larry, Williams and student assistant coach Laura Waldrop have all made significant contributions to the women's basketball program during their time at UAB.
The banquet concluded with a video of some of the season's highlights.
The 2005-06 Blazers finished with a record of 14-14 overall and 7-9 in Conference USA. UAB participated in the C-USA Tournament for the third-consecutive season. UAB doubled its win total from the 2004-05 campaign's 7-21 mark. The Blazers' single-season turnaround was the best since the 1999-2000 season. This was also UAB's first 14-win season since the 2000-01 campaign.
2005-06 UAB Women's Basketball Awards
Most Valuable Player: Carmen Guzman
Best Offensive Player: Carmen Guzman
Newcomer of the Year: Britney Jones
Best Conditioned Athlete: Crystal McFadden
Chairman of the Boards: Christon Ingram
Free Throw Percentage: Brianna Berry
Academic Award: Candace White
Unsung Hero Award: Larezia Williams
Senior Recognition: Deirdre Larry, Larezia Williams, Laura Waldrop
Coaches Award (Administrator): Ian Potter
