Tamika Catchings named first-team all WNBA
Tamika Catchings has been named to the 2012 All-WNBA first team for the seventh time.
She is seeking her first WNBA championship. The Finals series against the Minnesota Lynx continues Wednesday night with Indiana leading 1-0. The Fever will host Game 3 of the best-of-five series Friday night.
Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles, 2012 WNBA Most Valuable Player presented by Boost Mobile, headlines the All-WNBA First-Team, the league announced Wednesday. A three-time All-WNBA Team selection, Charles led all vote-getters with 196 points.
Forwards Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks (176) and Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever (161), as well as guards Cappie Pondexter of the New York Liberty (128) and Seimone Augustus of the Minnesota Lynx (95) round out the First-Team.
Voting for the All-WNBA First- and Second-Teams was conducted by a panel of 41 national and local sportswriters and broadcasters at the conclusion of the regular season. Players were selected by position and received five points for each First-Team vote and three points for each Second-Team designation.
It is the third first-team honor for Pondexter (2009, 2010), and the second for both Charles (2011) and Parker (2008). For Augustus, who had previously been selected to the Second-Team on three occasions (2006, 2007, and 2011), it marked the first time she earned a spot on the First-Team.
Charles, who earned All-WNBA First-Team acclaim in 2011 and Second-Team honors in 2010, finished the 2012 campaign with her third consecutive WNBA rebounding title (10.5 rpg). She also set a new Connecticut single-season scoring record, averaging 18 points. In the process, Charles guided the Sun to the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 25-9 record, the league’s second best mark behind the defending champion Lynx (27-7). A prolific scorer and rebounder, Charles ranked atop the WNBA in double-doubles for the third straight season, sharing the 2012 lead with the Sparks’ Parker.
Catchings, the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player a year ago, this season extended her own league record for WNBA Defensive Player of the Year presented by Boost Mobile honors, winning the award for a fifth time. Catchings led the current Fever squad to a 22-12 mark in the regular season, averaging 17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.1 steals. She has since guided the Fever to the WNBA Finals.
The runner-up to Charles as the 2012 WNBA Most Valuable Player presented by Boost Mobile, Parker led Los Angeles back to the playoffs, where the Sparks reached the Western Conference Finals. Parker finished the regular season ranked first in the league in blocks (2.3 bpg), tied for first in double-doubles (18, along with Tina Charles), third in rebounds (9.7 rpg), and seventh in scoring (17.4 ppg).
Pondexter, who ranked third in the WNBA in scoring (20.4 ppg), also finished eighth in free throw shooting percentage (.867, 144-of-166) and was tied for tenth in assists (4.3 apg). Augustus, the MVP of the 2011 WNBA Finals, finished the 2012 regular season as Minnesota’s leading scorer. It marked the third consecutive
season and the sixth time in her seven campaigns with the Lynx that she led the club in scoring. She also ranked fourth in the league in three-point shooting percentage (.437, 45-of-103) and ninth in scoring (16.6 ppg).
Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore (102 points) and Chicago Sky center Sylvia Fowles (95 points) highlight the 2012 All-WNBA Second-Team. Los Angeles Sparks guard Kristi Toliver (91), Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen (88), and San Antonio Silver Stars forward Sophia Young (67) round out the Second-Team.
In honor of being named to the All-WNBA First- and Second-Teams, each player will receive a Tiffany & Co. designed trophy. In addition, $10,000 will be awarded to each member of the First-Team, while each member of the Second-Team will receive $5,000.
