April 12, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - With the help of the loyal Penn State fans, Lady Lion junior guard Maggie Lucas (Narberth, Pa.) was selected as the 2013 Premier Women's Player of College Basketball Award from premierplayers.com. Fans voted for the top men's and women's basketball players throughout the month of March and voting concluded on April 7.
Lucas beat out the four other finalists for the award, including Baylor's Brittney Griner, the 2012 Premier Player, Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike, Delaware's Elena Delle Donne and Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins.
Lucas, who was a USBWA All-American, second team AP All-American and WBCA honorable mention All-American this season, paced the Lady Lions as she was third in the Big Ten and 16th in the NCAA with a 20.1 scoring average. The 2013 Big Ten Player of the Year's 644 points this season ranks fifth on the Penn State single-season charts. With back-to-back 600-point campaigns, she is just the second player in school history to record multiple 600-point seasons, joining Mazzante who accomplished the feat three times. Lucas was also stellar from long range, connecting on a conference-best 46.2% of her shots from three-point range. In addition to placing fourth in the NCAA in three-point field goal percentage, Lucas is in the Top 15 in the country in free throws percentage (9th - .900) and three-point field goals made (11th - 3.06). In just three seasons, Lucas has propelled herself into seventh on Penn State's career scoring list (1,838), second in three-point field goals made (292) and three-point field goal percentage (.433) and 19th in steals (176). She also tops the Lady Lions' career free throw percentage charts with an .887 mark.
The Premier Player Trophy is crafted by MTM Recognition, a leader in the design and manufacturing of awards for world class events including the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Series and NCAA Championships. The trophy is presented by The Premier Players Sports Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Tampa, Fla. Its mission is to help orphaned, foster and special needs children participate in sports by providing league sponsorships and proper equipment.
The Lady Lions hold several camps throughout the summer. There is a Lady Lion Basketball Camp available for girls of all ages, ranging from shooting camp to elite camp. The 2013 Lady Lion Basketball Camp schedule is as follows: Experience Camp (June 9-11), Elite Camp (June 22-23), Total Package Team Camp (June 20-22) and Games Galore Team Camp (August 2-4). For more information on Lady Lion Basketball Camps, please visit GoPSUsports.com/camps and click on Girls Basketball Camp under Summer Camps.
The Lady Lions are on Twitter. Follow sports information contact Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) and the Lady Lions and coaches (@pennstatewbb) to get the inside scoop. The Lady Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstateladylions.