For Immediate Release: March 6, 2001
Contact: Derek Smolik, UTPA Director of Athletic Media Relations

UT Pan American's Nicholls Named Coach of the Year, Terry, Gravel Named All-Independent

EDINBURG – Karin Nicholls was named Coach of the Year, while Cheveron Terry and Alexandra Gravel earned All-Independent recognition in the 2000-01 Independent Women’s Basketball Awards announced recently.

Nicholls, in just her first year as Head Coach for the Lady Broncs, led the team to its highest win total as an NCAA Division I member. Despite a late hire, which did not allow her time to recruit any new players for the season, Nicholls led the team to an 11-17 record; nearly double the win total of the 1999-2000 team, which had a 6-21 record.

Terry, a senior from Houston, was a first team All-Independent selection in her final year as a Lady Bronc. She also finished third in the voting for the Player of the Year. Terry led the Lady Broncs in scoring with 13.6 points per game. She also was second on the squad in rebound (5.5), first in steals (2.8) and second in assists (3.2). She became just the third player in UTPA history to score 1,000 or more points in a career. She is also the Lady Broncs all-time leader in steals.

Gravel, a junior from Chicoutimi, Quebec, was named second team All-Independent for the second consecutive season. Gravel finished second on the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game. She also pulled down 3.5 rebounds per game, had 2.0 assists per contest and had 1.2 steals per game. She led the team with an average of 2.4 three-pointers made per game. She set career highs of 29 and 30 points in back-to-back games this season, the two highest single-game point totals for a Lady Bronc this season.

Stony Brook's Sherry Jordan, a freshman from Stone Mountain, Ga., was named Independent Player of the Year.  She averaged 19.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.5 assists per game in her first season as a Seawolve.  She scored in double figures in each of the last 19 games for SUNY-SB.  She also had six double-doubles for Stony Brook.

Albany’s Jessica Burch was named Independent Defensive Player of the Year.  The sophomore from Sunnyside, N.Y., is currently 12th in the nation in steals with 3.5 per game.  She broke the Albany single-game steals mark with 10 against American.  She is also the school’s single season steals leader with 111 in 2000.

In addition to Jordan and Terry, Tara Montgomery of Belmont, Deetra Johnson of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Liz Tucker of Albany all earned first team All-Independent recognition.  Johnson was the only player to earn first team All-Independent honors in each of the last two seasons.

Joining Gravel on the second team was Natalie Brown of Belmont, Jean Clark of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Jill George of Stony Brook and Kristin Rogers of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

The awards were selected by a vote of Independent Coaches and Sports Information Directors.

2000-01 Independent Women’s Basketball Awards

  Player of the Year: Sherry Jordan, Stony Brook
Coach of the Year: Karin Nicholls, UT Pan American
Newcomer of the Year: Sherry Jordan, Stony Brook
Defensive Player of the Year: Jessica Burch, Stony Brook

All-Independent Teams

First Team
Deetra Johnson, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sherry Jordan, Stony Brook
Tara Montgomery, Belmont
Cheveron Terry, UT Pan American
Liz Tucker, Albany

Second Team
Natalie Brown, Belmont
Jean Clark, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Jill George, Stony Brook
Alexandra Gravel, UT Pan American
Kristin Rogers, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

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