University of North Carolina Athletics
Pringle Named ACC Defensive Player Of The Year
March 4, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2008
GREENSBORO, N.C. --- North Carolina senior LaToya Pringle was named the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced Tuesday. Pringle joins former Tar Heel Nikita Bell, who won the league's top defensive award in 2005. Pringle led the ACC with 78 blocks during the regular season, one year after setting the Carolina single-season record for blocked shots. The Fayetteville, N.C., forward/center is also just 10 blocks away from tying Dawn Royster's UNC career record of 329.
Joining Pringle on this year's defensive squad is Miami's Maurita Reid, NC State's Khadijah Whittington, Georgia Tech's Jacqua Williams and Virginia's Monica Wright. The ACC All-Defensive team and Defensive Player of the Year are selected by a vote of the 12 ACC women's basketball head coaches.
NC State's Whittington ranked among the nation's top five rebounders in 2007-08. She is just one of three players in ACC history to compile 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 200 steals and 100 blocks in a career, averaging 11.3 boards to date. Whittington also leads the league in defensive rebounds, with 226 in 29 games played this season.
Reid, who for the second year in a row ranks among the top two in the ACC in steals, averages nearly four takeaways per game. The senior from Queens, N.Y., is also second in the ACC in three-pointers made.
Tech's speedster Jacqua Williams had three or more steals in 20 games as a sophomore last season on her way to a school-record 95 steals, surpassing Kisha Ford's 13-year old record of 92. Williams in on pace to surpass her own mark this season as the junior has amassed 110 takeaways thus far this season.
Sophomore Monica Wright has led the `Hoos in scoring this season. The reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, she has been named the league's player of the week once and finished the regular season ranked second in the ACC in scoring average (17.8 ppg).
2007-08 ACC All-Defensive Team
LaToya Pringle, UNC
Maurita Reid, Miami
Khadijah Whittington, NC State
Jacqua Williams, Georgia Tech
Monica Wright, Virginia
