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 Kimberly Beck became the first GW freshman to be named Rookie of Year since 2000-01. |
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Beck Named A-10 Rookie of the Year
March 3, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC - Freshman Kimberly Beck was selected as the 2005 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Rookie of the Year in a poll of the conference's head coaches. The award was announced as part of the A-10's end of year banquet held at the Washington Marriott on Thursday, March 3. Senior All-America candidate Anna Montañana and classmate Jessica Simmonds were also recognized, earning first-and second-team all-conference honors, respectively.
Beck is the seventh Colonial to be named as the league's top rookie and the first since Ugo Oha in 2000-01. She led the conference with six Rookie of the Week Awards and paced the A-10 with a 5.22 assists per game average this season. Beck was the first freshman to lead the conference in that category since West Virginia's Rosemary Kosiorek in 1988-89. The 5-8 guard finished the regular year with 141 helpers, breaking the previous GW freshman assists record (122) set in 1981-82 by Kathy Marshall. Beck averaged 8.0 points per game during the regular season and led the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.10). She also ranked second in steals per game (2.63).
Montañana earned first-team all-conference accolades for the second year in a row. She finished third in the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 16.9 points per game. She also ranked third in the conference in free-throw percentage (.788) and was fifth in assists average (4.1). Montañana recorded five double-doubles in the regular season and topped the 20-point plateau eight times, including scoring a personal-best 27 points in GW's overtime win against Xavier on Feb. 20.
Simmonds ranked seventh in the Atlantic 10 in scoring average (14.5 ppg) and ranked third in blocked shots per game (1.26) on her way to second-team all-conference recognition. Simmonds led GW in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and notched five double-doubles in the regular season.
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Other award winners included Temple's Candice Dupree, Kamesha Hairston, and Dawn Staley. Dupree was chosen as the Atlantic 10's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Hairston took home the conference's Most Improved Player Award, while Staley was tabbed Coach of the Year. Michelle Miller of Xavier was picked as the Sixth Player of the Year and Duquesne's Nicole Sinclair was named Student-Athlete of the Year.
GW will host the 2005 Atlantic 10 Championship beginning at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 4 at the Smith Center. The Colonials won at least a share of the regular season crown for the fourth straight year and is the West's top seed for the championship. GW will play the winner of the Dayton/Fordham matchup on Saturday, March 5 at 4:00 p.m. in the quarterfinal round.
