March 7, 2011
All-Big West Conference teams release
DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis senior Paige Mintun was named All-Big West Conference for the third consecutive year, senior Heidi Heintz earned her second straight second-team recognition, and sophomore Vicky Deely was named honorable mention, it was announced by the league on Monday morning.
Additionally, Deely earned the league's "Sixth Woman of the Year" award, one of three specialty awards bestowed by the league's head coaches.
Mintun, a 6-foot-2 post from Valley Center, added her latest honor to a playing resumé that has already placed her among the top post players in program history.
Heintz, a 5-10 wing from Spokane, Wash., earned her second honor in as many years with the Aggie program while Deely, a 6-foot wing from Sonoma, earned recognition for the first time.
The awards were announced during a media teleconference call with the Big West's head coaches in advance of this week's ampm Big West Tournament. The Aggies (21-8) will host UC Irvine (15-14) in a quarterfinal round matchup on Tuesday night at The Pavilion with the winner advancing to Friday's semifinals at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Mintun is the first Aggie to receive a trio of first-team honors after joining Staci Stevens ('87, '88) Aimee Connor ('92, '93) and current Aggie assistant coach Des Abeyta ('99, 2000) as two-time winners last year.
She currently leads UC Davis in scoring (14.1), rebounding (5.7) and blocks (51) and earlier this season tallied at least 10 points in a career-best 17 consecutive games. Mintun's scored 20 points in three matchups and posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Cal State Northridge in January.
She heads to the postseason ranked fourth all-time at UC Davis in points (1,316), ninth in steals (157) and 10th in rebounding (585). She also has a school-record 145 blocked shots, breaking the record of 120 earlier this season at Pacific. Mintun tied a school record with seven blocks against Pacific at home in February.
Heintz is a versatile player who can play any position on the floor and currently leads the team in field goal percentage (.487) and assists (80), is second in rebounding (4.8) and third in scoring (9.6). Six times she's had six assists in a game, shoots 75.5 percent from the line and plays more than 27 minutes per game, most on the team.
Heintz transferred to UC Davis from the University of San Francisco after her sophomore year and hit the court with the Aggies for the first time last season. She went over the 1,000-point plateau in her career earlier this season.
Heintz scored in double-figures 13 times, tallying a season-high 18 points at Pacific in January and had two streaks of three games with at least 10 points.
Deely has become one of the most feared long-range shooters in the Big West, currently ranking third in the league for three-pointers per game (2.0) and fourth in percentage (.397). She entered the season with just 16 treys but has canned a team-high 56 this season, helping the Aggies set a school record with 221.
Deely has done her damage coming off the bench, trailing only Mintun in scoring (11.2) while also ranking third in rebounds (4.7). She earned Big West Player of the Week honors after making five three-pointers and scoring 21 points at then No. 15 UCLA in November. She tied her career-high of five treys two more times during the season, including at UC Irvine in January when she scored 23 points over just 10 minutes of the second half.
Deely rose this season to as high as No. 2 among NCAA Division I players for three-point percentage and is currently shooting a team-high 78.3 percent from the line.
Mintun was joined on the All-Big West first team by Player of the Year winner Rachel Clancy (Cal Poly), Emilie Johnson (UC Santa Barbara), Alyssa Morris (UC Riverside), Tre'Shonti Nottingham (UC Riverside), Megan Richardson (Cal State Fullerton) and Jade Smith-Williams (UC Irvine).
Faith Minmaugh, who helped lead top-seeded Cal Poly (16-11) to a share of the Big West regular-season title with UC Santa Barbara, was named Coach of the Year. Brandi Henton of Long Beach State was tabbed Freshman of the Year.
Other specialty awards went to Courtney Jacob (Long Beach State) for Best Hustle, and Mekia Valentine (UC Santa Barbara) as Best Defensive Player.
The ampm Big West Tournament gets underway on Tuesday with quarterfinal matchups on home sites. Cal Poly will host eighth-seeded Cal State Fullerton (9-20), seventh-seeded Pacific (8-21) is at second-seeded UC Santa Barbara (19-10), and third-seeded UC Riverside (18-11) hosts sixth-seeded Long Beach State (8-22).
