CANBERRA (WNBL) - The defencejobs Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) is pleased to announce the winners of the seven major statistical awards for the 2006/07 season.

To qualify for a major WNBL statistical award, athletes must have played at least half of their club’s 21 regular season games.

The 2006/07 defencejobs major statistical award winners are:

LEADING SCORER:
Hollie GRIMA – Bulleen Melbourne Boomers

The 2006/07 defencejobs WNBL season was a breakthrough time for 190cm centre Hollie Grima, having won World Championship and Commonwealth Games gold medals, and despite narrowly missing the WNBL playoffs on a count-back, Grima was in career best form.

She amassed 403 points at an average of 19.2 points per game in 39.7 minutes (of a possible 40 minutes) on average on court.

The 23-year-old posted 13 double-doubles (double figures in two categories) in 21 games and was named Nivea Player of the Week in rounds 3, 7 and 10. She was also the defencejobs WNBL Player of the Month for December and January.

LEADING REBOUNDER:
Hollie GRIMA – Bulleen Melbourne Boomers

Grima pulled in a season high 234 rebounds at 11.1 per game, including a league best 8.4 defensive rebounds per game. In addition, she was the only player in the League to average double figures in rebounds.

Prior to the 2006/07 season, Grima had a career average of 12.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

GOLDEN HANDS AWARD:
Erin PHILLIPS – Adelaide Lightning

The dynamic World Champion defencejobs Opal has been awarded the 2006/07 Golden Hands award for her fine play over 17 regular season games, before suffering a season-ending knee injury in round 20.

The Golden Hands award is calculated by adding a player’s total number of assists to steals and subtracting the number of turnovers.

Phillips led the league in assists (4.9 per game) and ranked 7th in steals (1.3 per game) while protecting the ball sufficiently to amass only 40 turnovers.

In addition, Phillips netted 280 points at 16.5 points per game (7th in the league) and tallied 123 rebounds at 7.2 per game (9th in the league) as well as ranking in the league’s top ten for most offensive and defensive rebounds.

The 173cm point guard also finished in the top ten for free throw shooting percentage (77.6%), 3-point shooting percentage (35.4%) and most steals per game (1.3) and was named Nivea Player of the Week in round 6 and WNBL Player of the Month for November.

MOST BLOCKED SHOTS:
Tracey BEATTY – Canberra Capitals

202cm centre Tracey Beatty blocked a massive 70 shots in 21 regular season games at an average of 2.7 per game, including 6-block games against Perth in round 3 and Townsville in round 5.

The tallest player in the WNBL also averaged 11.0 points at an impressive 50 per cent shooting from the field and 7.4 rebounds (8th in the league) per game.

She was named Nivea Player of the Week in Round 9 following her 26 point (12-from-13 shooting), 7 rebound, 4 blocked shot, 2 assist and 1 steal performance against Townsville.

BEST FIELD GOAL SHOOTING PERCENTAGE:
Jennifer Crouse – Townsville Fire

American centre Jennifer Crouse scored 224 points at 10.7 points per game in 21 games this season at the formidable field goal shooting percentage of 59.2 per cent.

In her third WNBL season, Crouse successfully shot 90-of-152 attempts, almost 6 per cent better than her nearest rival.

Standing 192cm, Crouse also ranked 4th in the league for total rebounds, averaging 8.2 per game to go with her third place ranking for most defensive rebounds and sixth place ranking for most offensive rebounds per game, averaging 5.7 and 2.5 rebounds respectively.

To qualify for a shooting percentage award, players must successfully make a minimum of five (5) field goals, three (3) three-point goals and three (3) free throws per game.

BEST 3-POINT SHOOTING PERCENTAGE:
Kathleen McLeod – Dandenong Rangers

In 11 regular season games, McLeod shot an impressive 14-from-33 from 3-point territory on her way to scoring 148 total points at an average of 13.5 points per game.

McLeod missed the opening stages of the season with a knee injury and watched her team lose six of their opening eight games, but returned to help the Rangers reach the playoffs.

To qualify for a shooting percentage award, players must successfully make a minimum of five (5) field goals, three (3) three-point goals and three (3) free throws per game.

BEST FREE THROW SHOOTING PERCENTAGE:
Kathleen McLeod – Dandenong Rangers

In 11 regular season games, McLeod shot 44-from-49 free throws at an average of 89.8 per cent.

The 168cm guard was recently named in the Australian U21 women’s basketball team (The Sapphires) to play in the 2007 FIBA U21 Women’s World Championship in Moscow, Russia from June 29 to July 8.

Basketball Australia