Honors Keep On Coming for Taurasi

Diana Taurasi moved well on the court during her high school basketball career at Chino Don Lugo, but she has been a blur--on and off the court--since it ended in February.

Taurasi, a 6-foot senior, was in Philadelphia April 2 to watch her future University of Connecticut teammates defeat Tennessee in the NCAA women’s national championship game.

Last Saturday, she was in Hanford, Conn., where she scored 12 points and had seven assists in 19 minutes to lead her team to victory in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn. All-America Game.

Taurasi then flew to Atlanta to pick up the Naismith Award as the top girls’ basketball player in the nation.

On April 22, she will play in another national all-star game in Knoxville, Tenn.

Taurasi can now add one more honor to her collection. She is the winner of The Times’ Cheryl Miller Award, presented annually to the top girls’ basketball player in Southern California.

“Diana has one of the highest basketball IQs I’ve ever seen,” said James Anderson, coach of Harbor City Narbonne. “She’s like Larry Bird. She does so many things well that don’t show up in a score book. And she is a dead-eye shooter from any range.”

Taurasi, who also was named Parade magazine’s player of the year, and state player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports for the second consecutive year, scored 3,047 points during her four-year varsity career, becoming the fifth California girl to score more than 3,000 points.

She averaged 27.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists in her career and scored 50 or more points four times. She scored 40 points or more 10 times and 30 points or more 21 times.

This season, Taurasi averaged 23.5 points. She scored 15 points in her final game, a 61-54 loss to Fullerton Troy in the Southern Section I-A quarterfinals.

Taurasi is only the second girl from California to win the Naismith Award, established in 1987. Lisa Leslie won the award her senior year at Inglewood Morningside in 1990.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Girls’ Player of Year

Cheryl Miller Award winners:

* 2000 Diana Taurasi, Chino Don Lugo

* 1999 Leilani Estavan, Palisades

* 1998 Michelle Greco, Crescenta Valley

* 1997 Michelle Greco, Crescenta Valley

* 1996 Maylana Martin, Perris

* 1995 Jody Parriott, Cerritos Valley Christian

* 1994 Olympia Scott, Playa del Rey St. Bernard

* 1993 Timicha Kirby, Lynwood

* 1992 Charisse Sampson, Washington

* 1991 Tamika Phillips, Ontario Chaffey