April 20, 2004

WACO, Texas - A record crowd of over 900 was on hand at the annual Lady Bear Basketball Appreciation Banquet, sponsored by the Tip Off Club, at the Ferrell Center on Tuesday night.

Five student-athletes were honored with special awards, the season was reviewed and a special highlight video was shown. The Lady Bears finished the 2003-04 season at 26-9 and advanced to the NCAA Championship's Sweet 16 for the first time in the program's history.

Sharing the team's Most Valuable Player Award for the second straight year were sophomore Sophia Young and junior Steffanie Blackmon, both All-Big 12 first-team honorees. Young (St. Vincent, West Indies) averaged 16.7 points and 8.6 rebounds a game while Blackmon (Dallas) scored 15.6 points and hauled down 5.6 rebounds a contest in an injury-shortened season. The post tandem combined to average 32.2 points and 15.5 rebounds a game this season.

Most improved honors went to junior point guard Chelsea Whitaker. The Dallas native, dished out a team-high 4.6 assists a game while committing only 2.4 turnovers an outing. She played 25.2 minutes a game and raised her free throw shooting percentage significantly over last season.

Senior guard Jessika Stratton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was the recipient of two awards. For the second straight year she earned the team's Defensive Award and also earned the team's Academic Award. Stratton has started every game the past two seasons and has been named first-team Academic All-Big 12 twice. She set school records for season and career free throw percentage and season three-point shooting percentage.

The Coaches Award for leadership was presented to senior Dionne Brown. Brown, a transfer to Baylor and a two-year letterwinner, finished the season averaging 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds a game.

The 2003-04 Rebounding Award was won by Sophia Young. The 6-1 post ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 in rebounding on the season with 8.6 an outing.