The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Amanda Peterson, Carolyn Cochran Named Top Scholar-Athletes
7/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
July 19, 2011
Complete List of 2010-11 Award Winners
Carolyn Cochran and Amanda Peterson
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Amanda Peterson of the UAB women's basketball team and Carolyn Cochran of the Blazer women's golf team have been named the 2010-11 Conference USA Scholar-Athletes of the Year for their sports.
The conference office announced the awards on Tuesday as selected by the league's Faculty Athletics Representatives. One winner, based on academic achievement, athletic achievement and service, is selected from each of C-USA's 18 sports.
Peterson earned the honor for the second year in a row after concluding her career this past season as one of the top three-point shooters in conference history.
A product of Homewood, Ala., Peterson set a school and league record this year with 103 three-pointers. Her 319 career threes are the most by any men's or women's player in UAB history and rank third in C-USA women's hoops annals.
Peterson averaged 10.8 points per game and shot 39 percent from three-point range as a senior while helping UAB to a 20-15 record and the WBI postseason tournament championship. She finished her career with a school-record 126 games played.
Academically, Peterson graduated in May with a 3.68 GPA and a degree in exercise science. She is a four-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, a three-time selection to the league's All-Academic Team and a two-time recipient of the conference's Academic Medal. She will begin physical therapy school at Duke this fall.
Two summers ago, Peterson traveled to Brazil with a group from her church to work in an orphanage and run basketball camps for children. She has continued to volunteer with the Dream Center, an outreach program of Birmingham's Church of the Highlands, in addition spending time at various elementary schools in the city.
Cochran has been one of UAB's top golfers since arriving on campus in 2006. The Daphne, Ala., product collected 13 top-20 finishes in her career to go along with four top-5 results. She was the individual medalist at the 2009 UAB Fall Beach Blast.
A biology major, Cochran graduated in May with a 3.97 GPA and is now attending dentistry school at UAB. She posted a perfect 4.0 GPA in every semester but one, earning the C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal in every year of her college career.
Cochran earned C-USA All-Academic Team honors for the second time as a senior this spring and became the first UAB women's golfer to garner Capital One Academic All-District recognition.
The president of UAB's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Cochran is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and co-founded the Pre-Dental Society at UAB. She has also spent time reading with children at local elementary schools through the UAB athletic department's various volunteer opportunities.
UAB was one of just three league schools to have multiple players win Scholar-Athlete awards this year, joining Rice (8) and Southern Miss (2). The Blazers, who had four athletes honored last year, have now had at least two recipients in each of the past three years.
