Sept. 26, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame senior center Ruth Riley (Macy, Ind.) and sophomore guard Alicia Ratay (Lake Zurich, Ill,) are among the 30 pre-season candidates listed for the 2000-01 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Riley, the first player in Notre Dame women’s basketball history to earn Associated Press first-team All-America honors, led the Irish in scoring and rebounding for the second straight season as she averaged 16.2 points and 7.3 rebounds. The two-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year was one of 15 finalists for the Naismith Award a year ago.
Ratay, the 2000 BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and an AP honorable mention All-American selection as a freshman, was Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer and rebounder a year ago as she averaged 14.0 points and 5.0 rebounds. She set the Notre Dame single-season three-point field goal percentage mark as she converted on .480 percentage (73-152).
The women’s Naismith Award was first presented in 1983 and honors the outstanding college basketball player in the United States. The award program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of student-athletes in basketball.
The candidates were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectors comprised of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball analysts.
The preseason candidates listed in alphabetical order are: Svetlana Abrosimova (Connecticut), Chantelle Anderson (Vanderbilt), LaQuanda Barksdale (North Carolina), Lucienne Berthieu (Old Dominion), Sue Bird (Connecticut), Juana Brown (North Carolina), Niesha Butler (Georgia Tech), Tamika Catchings (Tennessee), Camille Cooper (Purdue), Katie Douglas (Purdue), Marie Ferdinand (Lousiana State), Deanna Jackson (Alabama), Schuye Larue (Virginia), Tawana McDonald (Georgia), Coco Miller (Georgia), Kelly Miller (Georgia), Deanna Nolan (Georgia), Plentte Pierson (Texas Tech), Tasha Pointer (Rutgers), Shea Ralph (Connecticut), Sameka Randall (Tennessee), Alicia Ratay (Notre Dame), Ruth Riley (Notre Dame), Kelly Schumacher (Connecticut), Georgia Schweitzer (Duke), Michelle Snow (Tennessee), Jackie Stiles (Southwest Missouri St.), Tammy Sutton-Brown (Rutgers), LaToya Thomas (Mississippi State) and Shaquitta Williams (Oregon).