State College, Pa., March 28, 2002 - Lady Lion sophomore standout Kelly Mazzante (Montoursville, Pa.) has been selected to the prestigious WBCA/Kodak All-America team, which was released today.
The honor marks the fourth All-America Team Mazzante has been selected to following her breakthrough sophomore season.
Mazzante has previously been named to the Associated Press, United States Basketball Writers Association and Gballmag.com's All-America Teams after leading the Big Ten in scoring at 24.9 points per game. She became the first player in Big Ten Conference history to lead the league in scoring during each of her first two seasons.
The sophomore entered the 2002 NCAA Tournament as the nation's leading scorer and is trying to become the first player from the Big Ten, Big XII, Big East, Atlantic Coast, Southeastern or Pacific-10 Conferences to lead the nation in scoring since 1985.
"It is a tremendous honor to be selected as a member of the WBCA/Kodak All-America Team," Mazzante said. "It is a wonderful feeling to know that the nation's coaches consider me to be one of the top players in the nation. I would not have been able to achieve the things I did this season without the help and support of my teammates, coaches and family."
Mazzante is the fourth Lady Lion in history to be named to the 10-member WBCA/Kodak All-America Squad. Helen Darling is the most recent Lady Lion to earn the honor as she was chosen for the team in 2000. Suzie McConnell (1988) and Susan Robinson (1992) round out Penn State's previous WBCA/Kodak First Team selections.
Mazzante broke or tied a total of 31 Big Ten Conference, Penn State and opponent facility records during her sophomore campaign, including the 17-year old Big Ten single-season scoring record of 855 points established by Northwestern's Anucha Browne during the 1984-85 season. Mazzante finished 2001-02 with a Penn State and Big Ten record 872 points. She also connected on a school-record 102 three-point field goals on the year.
She also notched the highest single-game scoring effort in the nation this season when she exploded for 49 points at Minnesota on Dec. 28. The 49-point effort also marked a Big Ten and Penn State single-game all-time best.
During the 2002 Big Ten Tournament, Mazzante shattered a total of five tourney marks including overall scoring average (28.7), most three-point field goals overall (15) and most three-point field goals in a single game with nine vs. Wisconsin on March 3 in the Big Ten Semifinals.
The nine three-pointers also broke the Penn State single-game record of eight, which she set earlier in the year at Minnesota on Dec. 28.
Mazzante was honored previously this season as a third-team Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America, unanimous All-Big Ten First-Team, 2002 Naismith Award Finalist and is a finalist for ESPN The Magazine's Shooting Guard of the Year Award.