Michigan State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Hands Out Annual Awards
4/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
April 6, 2007
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's basketball team handed out its annual awards Friday night at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University. Senior Victoria Lucas-Perry (Flint, Mich./Powers Catholic) led the award winners, as she earned the team's M.M.O.C., Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete Awards.
Lucas-Perry, an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 4 Second Team selection, finished the year ninth in the conference in scoring (13.5), 17th in rebounds (6.0) and fifth in steals (2.24). The tri-captain led the team in scoring 12 times and scored in double figures 22 times. Besides averaging career highs in points (13.5), rebounds (6.0) and assists (2.6), Lucas-Perry maintained a 3.6 GPA as a finance major, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors three times. The Preseason Naismith Trophy Candidate scored 15 or more points in 12 games, including a 20-point effort at No. 1 Maryland and an 18-point effort against No. 6 LSU on Dec. 17. She has also shattered previous career bests in total points (447), rebounds (199), assists (84), steals (74) and 3-pointers (56).
Sophomore Mia Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./North) earned the team's Top Playmaker and Best Free-Throw Shooter awards. Johnson finished fifth on the team in scoring, averaging 8.3 points per game, but her grittiness played a role in many Spartan wins. She sunk a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left against Purdue to lift MSU to a 52-50 win in the program's largest comeback in school history. Johnson helped ice two games in Big Ten play within a week. In the Feb. 8 55-48 win over Northwestern, Johnson iced the game after the Wildcats had pulled within four points with 2:02 left by hitting 5-of-7 shots on the free-throw line. She finished the Purdue game with 10 points and three 3-pointers, all of which came in the second half while the Spartans were completing their comeback, including a trifecta with 5:50 left to give the Spartans their first lead of the game at 44-42. Johnson led the Spartans in free-throw percentage (minimum two made per game), as she connected on 79.1 percent (87-for-110) of her chances at the charity stripe.
Senior Rene Haynes (Columbus, Ohio/Wellington School) was named the team's Best Defensive Player and the Top Assist-Maker. She finished the season averaging a career-high 10.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She was sixth in the Big Ten in assists (3.42) in her first season as the Spartans' primary point guard and also finished the season among the conference leaders in five other categories: scoring (23rd, 10.4); assist/turnover ratio (12th, 1.03); steals (8th, 2.15); and minutes played (9th, 32.91). A member of the Big Ten All-Defensive Team as a senior, Haynes finished second in school history with 245 career steals.
Freshman Allyssa DeHaan (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) was the team's Top Rebounder, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game. Junior Courtney Davidson (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline) was the team's Sixth Player award winner, as the back-up point guard finished the season with a career-high 55 points in just 27 games, after missing seven due to a preseason achilles injury. Senior Katrina Grantham (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) took the Senior Award after setting career highs with 54 points and 72 rebounds this season.
Michigan State finished 23-9 overall and 13-3 in the Big Ten under seventh-year head coach Joanne P. McCallie. The team earned its fifth straight bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round for the fourth straight year.
