March 26, 2008

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - Celeste Trahan of Elizabeth City State has been named the 2008 Daktronics NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Player of the Year. Trahan leads a list of 15 student-athletes honored by Division II sports information directors for their efforts on the hardwood this season.

Daktronics is a world leader in programmable electronic signs, electronic and digital displays and scoreboards. The team is voted on by the Division members of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The 2008 women's basketball All-America team is comprised of two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore on the first team while upperclassmen dominate the second and third teams released Tuesday..

Trahan was joined by Lauren Beckley of Shippensburg, Emily Brister of West Texas A&M, Katie Cezat of Hillsdale and Ashley Langen of North Dakota on the Daktronics All-American First Team .

The second team is led by Vanessa Wilt of Cal State-San Bernardio, followed by Kate Lynch of Southern Connecticut, Sheena Walton of Tampa, Michelle Stueve of Emporia State and Jennifer Rushing of Delta State.

The third team consists of Johannah Leedham of Franklin-Pierce, Jeana Hoffman of South Dakota, Anna Atkinson of Wingate, Sarah Van Horn of West Virginia Wesleyan and Syretha Marble of North Georgia College & State.

Trahan was the 2008 Daktronics South Atlantic Regional Player of the Year and was also give the Player of the Year Award by the Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The senior center from Stockton, Calif. was also named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. Trahan averaged 23.7 poitns and 15.9 rebounds per game this season while shooting .522 from the floor. She added 2.1 blocks, 2.4 steals and 1.4 assists per game to her teams efforts. She leads the nation in scoring and rebounding is No. 22 in blocked shots and No. 43 in field goal percentage. She is the first woman in Division II history and the fourth overall to record 2,000 points and 1,500 rebounds in a career. She is the first woman in ECSU history and the fourth overall to have her jersey retired. She was named the CIAA Player of the Week on eight occasions and scored in double figures in every game this season, registering a double-double in all but two contests. Trahan set a career high 36 points against Mount Olive on Jan. 2 and matched the total against Shaw on Feb. 2. She is a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Third Team selection. She is her school's all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. Trahan has amassed 84 career double-doubles in 109 career games and averaged a double-double for her career with 19.7 points and 14.1 rebounds per outing.

Cezat was second in the voting for Player of the Year after being named the Daktronics North Central Region Player of the Year. The junior forward from Plymouth, Mich. set school records for points in a game (42 against Wayne State on Feb. 2) and rebounds in a game (25 against Gannon on Jan. 26). She has also set single-season school records for blocked shots (35), field goals made (242) and rebounds (322). Cezat is averaging 23.3 points and 12.4 rebounds per game this season, shooting .576 from the field and .803 from the charity stripe. The junior was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference South Division Player of the Week six times overall and five times in a row. She finished the regular season as the GLIAC's leading scorer and rebounder, and she ranked in the Top 10 in the a total of seven categories. Cezat ranks second in the nation in scoring and fourth in rebounding, helping her team to the GLIAC South Division title, tying a school record 23 wins as of Feb. 23. She is just the second player in school history to score 600 or more points in a season.

Beckley, a sophomore from Fairfield, Pa., led Shippensburg with 22.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game this season while averaging .505 from the floor and .828 from the charity stripe. She was the 2008 Daktronics East Region Player of the Year and is a finalist for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-American team. She was the 2008 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Player of the Year for 2008 as well as a First Team All-PSAC West honoree after being named the 2007 PSAC West Rookie of the Year in 2007 and being a member of the conference's first team as a freshman last season as well. She was a 2007 Daktronics All-East Region second team selection as a freshman and became the first woman in PSAC history to score 1,000 career points as a sophomore. She has scored 1,172 points in 56 career games for an average of 20.9 points per game, which is second in school history. After just two seasons, she currently ranks 13th in school history in career points. Beckley is just the fourth player in school history to score 600 or more points in a single season, the first since 1995-96. She averaged .433 from the arc as she leads the PSCAC in three-point field goal percentage, scoring and rebounding. She set a new PSAC freshman scoring record last season with 548 points.

Brister, a junior from Amarillo, Texas, leads West Texas A&M with 21.5 points per game this season, and in almost all major statistical categories with the exception of field goal percentage, three-point percentage and assists. Brister returns as the Daktronics South Central Region Player of the Year for the second straight time after being named to the all-region first team for the third straight season. Brister was a third team Daktronics All-American as a freshman after being named the Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year. She has received the LSC South Division Player of the Year award all three seasons she has been in college. Brister has led the Lady Buffs to sixth straight 20-plus win seasons as she ranks seventh in the nation in points per game. She is the second most prolific scorer in West Texas A&M history and currently is just 20 points short of the school record. Additionally, she is in the top five in WTAMU history in field goals attempted, three-point field goals made, three-point field goals attempted, free throws made, free throws attempted and steals. She has scored 30-plus points nine times in her career and has been held to single-digit scoring only twice (once each during her freshman and sophomore years). She has been an honorable mention All-American by WBCA twice, was the 2007 LSC Female Athlete of the Year and the 2007 LSC South Division Player of the Year in addition to earning first team all-conference honors all three seasons in college. Brister led the nation as a freshman in 2006 with 4.1 steals per game, tying a school record for 132 steals in a season.

Langen, a senior from Kennedy, Minn., was the 2008 Daktronics North Central Region Player of the Year after averaging 16.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. She is shooting .586 from the floor and .795 from the charity stripe this season. She was a unanimous selection to the Daktronics All-North Central Region First Team and was also named to the WBCA All-Region team. Langen was named the North Central Conference Co-Most Valuable Player and was named to her fourth All-NCC team, just the seventh player in league history to achieve such a distinction. She is a three-time NCC Player of the Week this season and became just the second player in UND history, third in NCC history and 16th in NCAA Division II history to score 2,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds. Langen is second on UND's career scoring and rebounding lists and is the schools all-time leader in free throws made (468). She is also second in fiel goals made, field goal attempts, free throw attempts, free throw percentage and games played. She set a school record for rebounds in a single-season and led the NCC in rebounding in 2008. For the second time in her career, Langen led the NCC in field goal percentage during conference play and had a conference-high 18 double-doubles this season. She reached double figures in scoring in 26 of 31 games this season and grabbed at least 10 rebounds 18 times. Langen was named UND's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Month for December.