Aug. 18, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second time in less than a week, Notre Dame rising senior forward Jacqueline Batteast (South Bend, Ind./Washington HS) has been named to a watch list for national player of the year honors. On Wednesday, she was one of 31 preseason candidates selected for the 2005 State Farm Wade Trophy, which will be awarded to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player. That announcement comes on the heels of Batteast’s selection to the John R. Wooden Women’s Award Preseason All-America Team on Aug. 12. The 30 players on that team are the early front-runners for the Wooden Women’s Award, which also will be presented to the most outstanding female collegiate basketball player in the country at the conclusion of the ’04-05 season. Batteast is considered a prime candidate for numerous national honors this year, having earned fifth-team All-America laurels from Basketball Times and honorable mention All-America accolades from the Associated Press last season. She is coming off the finest campaign of her Notre Dame career, averaging personal bests of 16.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while garnering first-team all-BIG EAST Conference honors, her third consecutive all-league selection. In addition, Batteast was dominating in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, averaging 22.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game with a .483 field goal percentage and three double-doubles as the Irish advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth time in the past five years. Her performances against Top 25 opponents last season also were sharp, as she registered 16.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks with five double-doubles and three near double-doubles in 11 games. Entering her final season at Notre Dame, Batteast ranks 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,315 points and stands in the top 10 on 11 other Irish career statistical categories, including rebounds (7th – 747), blocks (tie-5th – 124), scoring average (4th – 14.6 ppg.) and double-doubles (tie-3rd – 32). She also has been the picture of consistency for the Irish, having started 64 consecutive games and 86 of a possible 90 contests in her three-year tenure (she missed four games with a knee injury late in her freshman season). Batteast is one of five BIG EAST players who were chosen as preseason candidates for the State Farm Wade Trophy, joining Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers, and the Connecticut trio of Jessica Moore, Ann Strother and Barbara Turner. Only the Big 12 Conference (seven) had more players named to the Wade watch list. The State Farm Wade Trophy, now in its 28th year and named after the late, legendary three-time national champion Delta State University coach, Lily Margaret Wade, debuted in 1978 as the first-ever women’s national player of the year award in college basketball. This most prestigious award, regarded as “The Heisman of Women’s Basketball”, is organized by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), in conjunction with the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS). Last year’s State Farm Wade Trophy recipient was Alana Beard (Duke University). The first recipient of the Wade Trophy was Carol Blazejowski of Montclair State in 1978. Other Wade Trophy/NCAA Division I Player of the Year recipients include many WNBA standouts such as Teresa Weatherspoon (1988), Jennifer Azzi (1990), Ticha Penicheiro (1998), Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2003), in addition to two-time winner Nancy Lieberman (1979 and 1980) and Cheryl Miller (1985). The 2005 State Farm Wade Trophy winner will be announced during the WBCA National Convention, which will be held in conjunction with the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Indianapolis from April 2-5, 2005. The preseason candidates for the 2005 State Farm Wade Trophy, listed in alphabetical order, are as follows: Seimone Augustus, LSU, Junior
Jacqueline Batteast, Notre Dame, Senior
Steffanie Blackmon, Baylor, Senior
Nikki Blue, UCLA, Junior
Jamie Carey, Texas, Senior
Monique Currie, Duke, Junior
Shyra Ely, Tennessee, Senior
Katie Feenstra, Liberty, Senior
Sandora Irvin, TCU, Senior
Dionnah Jackson, Oklahoma, Senior
Tiffany Jackson, Texas, Sophomore
Temeka Johnson, LSU, Senior
Ivory Latta, North Carolina, Sophomore
Camille Little, North Carolina, Sophomore
Sancho Lyttle, Houston, Senior
Kristen Mann, UC Santa Barbara, Senior
Janel McCarville, Minnesota, Senior
Jessica Moore, Connecticut, Senior
Shawntinice Polk, Arizona, Junior
Cappie Pondexter, Rutgers, Senior
Noelle Quinn, UCLA, Sophomore
Heather Schreiber, Texas, Senior
Khara Smith, DePaul, Junior
Kim Smith, Utah, Junior
Ann Strother, Connecticut, Junior
Barbara Turner, Connecticut, Junior
Kendra Wecker, Kansas State, Senior
Dee-Dee Wheeler, Arizona, Senior
Tan White, Mississippi State, Senior
Tanisha Wright, Penn State, Senior
Sophia Young, Baylor, Junior
— ND —