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Three MWC Women's Basketball Players Named to Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List
San Diego State's Jené Morris, TCU's Helena Sverrisdottir and Utah's Kalee Whipple honored
Nov. 18, 2009 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Three MWC women's basketball student-athletes, San Diego State senior Jené Morris, TCU junior Helena Sverrisdottir and Utah senior Kalee Whipple were named to the 2009-10 Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List, announced today by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The Naismith Trophy is the most prestigious national award presented annually to college basketball's player of the year. Morris, a native of San Francisco, Calif., was an honorable mention All-American in 2008-09, averaging 16.1 points and 3.3 steals per game in leading the Aztecs to the program's first NCAA tournament bid in 12 years and a share of the regular-season Conference title. Morris has been named a preseason candidate for both national player-of-the-year awards, the Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden Award, and was tabbed the 2009-10 Mountain West Conference Preseason Player of the Year. In her first two games of the 2009-10 season, Morris has averaged 13.5 points and four steals per game in leading the Aztecs to wins over UC Irvine and San Diego. Sverrisdottir, hailing from Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, was the first player in TCU history to average at least 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game in the same season last year. As a sophomore, she tallied nine double-doubles in 2008-09, including two with double-digit assists and points. She was one of only three MWC student-athletes to record at least 10 assists in a game last season. In her first game of 2009-10, Sverrisdottir nearly managed her first triple-double, earning 13 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in just 25 minutes of play. Whipple, a product of Hiko, Nev., returns as the Utes' leading scorer after finishing second in the league in scoring last season, with an average of 17.0 points per game. A 2008-09 unanimous all-MWC first-team selection, she amassed three 30+ point games last season, while scoring in double-figures in 31 of her 33 games. Whipple most recently led her team to a win over Big Ten foe Minnesota, scoring 17 points for her 19th consecutive game in double-figures.
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