Beard, Taurasi Top Wooden Team

Duke’s Alana Beard, Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante, Stanford’s Nicole Powell, Connecticut’s Diana Taurasi and Purdue’s Shereka Wright have been named to the first women’s Wooden Award All-American team.

All five women are finalists for the inaugural women’s Wooden Award, given to the nation’s top college player. The award will be presented April 9 in Los Angeles.

The award is named after former UCLA coach John Wooden. A men’s award, which has been presented since 1976, will be handed out April 10 in Los Angeles in front of a national television audience.

Beard and Taurasi have received other postseason recognition.

Taurasi, a two-time national champion at Connecticut, won the Naismith Award for the second consecutive year.

Beard, the only NCAA player (male or female) with 2,500 points and 400 steals, was named player of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. and ESPN.com.

Powell led the Pacific 10 Conference in rebounding and was second in scoring. Mazzante finished her career as the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer (male or female). Wright led Purdue to the Big Ten tournament championship.

-- Mike Terry