Taylor, Shepard Lead Six Patriots in Women’s Hoops Honors
March 4, 2009

RICHARDSON, Texas – Junior Becky Taylor (Bullard, Texas) and senior Marzetta Shepard (Atlanta, Texas) received three of the top American Southwest Conference women’s basketball honors in the league’s annual post-season awards that were announced on Wednesday.

In total, six UT Tyler players were featured across five teams for the East Division of the conference.

Taylor was one of just five players from both divisions to be named to the prestigious All-ASC team. She was also named to the ASC East first team and received the first-ever ASC East Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year award. Taylor shared the sportsmanship honor with senior Casie Hilton of Mississippi College.

Taylor started every game for UT Tyler this season and averaged team-highs of 17.5 points and 13.3 rebounds per game. She finished the season second in the ASC in rebounding and third in scoring. Taylor also broke the ASC single-season rebound record during the year; she finished the season with 346 total rebounds.

The three-year letterwinner was third among all Division III players in rebounds per game, 11th in field goal percentage and 61st in points per game this season. She recorded 23 double-doubles in 26 games to finish third on the NCAA DIII single-season double-double list.

Shepard was named as the East Division Defensive Player of the Year, received ASC East honorable mention honors and was selected to the ASC East Defensive team. Shepard averaged 13.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assists per game on the year.

Sophomore Melissa Thomas (Austin, Texas) was named to the ASC East second team. Thomas averaged 16.2 points per game before suffering a season-ending injury with nine games left to play.

Sophomores Lindsay Eaton (Austin, Texas) and Marci Trogus (Houston, Texas) were also picked as ASC East Honorable Mention selections, while Lindsay Hausmann (Austin, Texas) was named to the ASC East All-Freshman team.

The 2008-2009 Patriots finished the season at 15-10 overall and 12-9 in league play. UT Tyler also qualified for the ASC Tournament for the second consecutive season.

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