Zolman Up For Naismith Award

By Times-Union Sports Staff

SYRACUSE – Wawasee junior basketball player Shanna Zolman is one of 10 female nationwide finalists for the Naismith Prep Basketball Player of the Year Award.

The 10 male and 10 female finalists were announced today. They were selected by a vote of the Naismith Prep Awards Selection Committee of leading basketball coaches, journalists and administrators. The final ballots will be mailed this week with the finalists listed below on the ballot. The selection committee then will pick its top male and female players in the nation.

The winners of the Naismith Award, the most prestigious individual honor in college and high school basketball, will receive their awards in April at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

Of the 10 players up for the female award, three are from Indiana. Joining Zolman are South Bend Washington’s Jacqueline Batteast and Ben Davis’ Shyra Ely.

Zolman has led Indiana in scoring for three years in a row and is on pace to become the state’s all-time girls basketball career scoring leader. This year she’s averaging 34.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 5.0 steals per game. She shoots 56 percent from the field (253-454) and has hit 47 percent of her three-point attempts (76-161) and 95 percent of her free throws (207-217).

The Naismith Awards program, in its 33rd year, honors the outstanding prep basketball players in the United States. The awards program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of excellence in basketball for student athletes.

MALE

Kwame Brown, Glynn Academy (Brunswick, Ga.)

Tyson Chandler, Dominguez (Compton, Calif.)

Ousmane Cisse, St. Jude (Montgomery, Ala.)

Eddy Curry, Thornwood (South Holland, Ill.)

De Sagana Diop, Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)

Julius Hodge, St. Raymond’s (Bronx, N.Y.)

David Lee, Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.)

Rick Rickert, East (Duluth, Minn.)

Kelvin Torbert, Northwestern (Flint, Mich.)

Dajuan Wagner, Camden (Camden, N.J.)

FEMALE

Jacqueline Batteast, South Bend Washington (South Bend, Ind.)

Kara Braxton, Westview (Beaverton, Ore.)

Monique Currie, Bullis (Washington, D.C.)

Ashley Earley, Briarcrest (Memphis, Tenn.)

Shyra Ely, Ben Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Gillian Goring, Germantown Academy (Fort Washington, Pa.)

Loree Moore, Narbonne (Harbor City, Calif.)

Chelsea Newton, Carroll (Monroe, La.)

Cappie Pondexter, Marshall (Chicago, Ill.)

Shanna Zolman, Wawasee (Syracuse, Ind.)