  |
March 26, 2008
Jahzinga Tracey became the first IUP women's basketball player in 15 years to be recognized as an All-American when she was selected on Wednesday by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Tracey (Des Moines, Iowa/Hoover) was one of only 10 players chosen for the award from the almost 300 schools that play Division II women's basketball. The last IUP player to be chosen as an All-American was Cathy Torchia following the 1992-93 season. Her selection as an All-American continues an honor-filled career for Tracey. She has been on the All-PSAC West team each of her first three seasons, including the past two on the first team, and was the 2007 PSAC West Player of the Year and 2006 Rookie of the Year. A year ago Tracey was the MVP of the PSAC tournament, on the Daktronics All-East Region first team and a member of the East Region all-tournament team. "I am just so proud of Jahzinga. She has developed tremendously over the past three seasons, and it is nice to see her hard work and effort be recognized nationally by the WBCA," said IUP head coach Cindy Martin. "Jahzinga is a very gifted student-athlete. All season we have seen teams try to shut her down, and she just finds a way to always contribute to our team game plan. I have become a better coach working with Jahzinga and am excited to tackle the match-up challenges we will see again next year. Jahzinga is the type of player that all coaches dream of having on their roster!" Tracey earned All-America status on the strength of a junior season which saw her rank in the top 10 in the PSAC in five categories and among the national leaders in four departments. She was third in the PSAC in scoring (19.0), rebounding (9.0) and steals (3.34), sixth in field goal percentage (52.4) and ninth in blocked shots (1.00). The 6-1 guard was 13th among Division II players in steals, 25th in scoring, 42nd in field goal percentage and 53rd in rebounding. Tracey has rewritten the IUP season and career record book during her first three seasons. She will enter her senior campaign as the second leading scorer in school history with 1,492 points and is only 231 away from passing Torchia for the top spot. Tracey reached the 1,000-point mark in only 67 games, the fastest IUP player to ever reach that milestone. Tracey is also second in career field goals made (631), third in scoring average (16.0) and steals (279), fourth in field goals attempted (1,262), fifth in rebounding average (8.5) and seventh in total rebounds (786). She is in the top 20 in seven other career categories. This year Tracey scored 607 points, five shy of the school single season record she set in 2006-07, and established a new IUP mark for steals with 107. Her 19.0 scoring average was the third highest in one season, and she broke her own record for field goals made in a season with 262. With Tracey leading the way, IUP has a record of 70-23 over the past three seasons with back-to-back PSAC championships. The Crimson Hawks have been in the past two NCAA tournaments, the first time the team has qualified for the postseason in consecutive years, and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2007. This season, IUP was ranked No. 1 in the East Region, hosted the region tournament and climbed to as high as No. 5 in the nation in the WBCA poll. |
