July 12, 2011
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Hailee Elmore of Saint Louis and Xavier’s Ta’Shia Phillips have been selected as the Atlantic 10 Conference nominees for the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Elmore, the two-time A-10 Women's Tennis Most Outstanding Performer of the Year, registered an impressive 22-6 overall record at No. 1 singles, including a 13-4 mark in dual matches following the 2011 season. The Springfield, Ill., native led the Billikens to the program's first appearance in the A-10 Championship finals, which included wins over La Salle, Duquesne and Temple. During her final season at Saint Louis, Elmore became the institution's all-time career wins leader in singles (93) and doubles (74), while becoming the first women's tennis player at Saint Louis to earn a national ranking. The three-time, first-team All-Conference award recipient was also a member of the league's Academic All-Conference team on three separate occasions and owns a 3.93 cumulative grade point average as a Communication Sciences and Disorders major.
A member of the A-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll all four years at Saint Louis, Elmore capped off her senior season being named the league's Student-Athlete of the Year. She was also honored on the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District VII team three years in a row including earning first team honors in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011. Elmore represented the Billikens as the SAAC Tennis Representative from 2008-2010 coordinating with other student-athletes on campus to promote support within the athletic community and create opportunities to volunteer within the community. Along with serving as a tennis instructor, Elmore is an active member of the Saint Louis University National Institution of Speech, Language, and Hearing Association. She was also named SLU's 2011 Outstanding Female Senior Student-Athlete.
She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa-Missouri Chapter and was the 2010 recipient of SLU's Donald G. Brennan Academic Excellence Award. Elmore has served as a volunteer at Karen House homeless shelter, Catch a Falling Star after-school program and the Abraham Lincoln National Arboretum. Elmore earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication sciences and disorders in 2010, graduating summa cum laude. She recently completed her first year of graduate study in communication sciences and disorders while competing in her final season of eligibility for the Billikens.
Phillips, one of the Atlantic 10’s most decorated women’s basketball players, garnered a plethora of accolades during her four-year career at Xavier. The two-time WBCA/State Farm All-America honorable mention was also twice named an All-American by the Associated Press (third team in 2010-11; honorable mention 2008-09) and was honored by Full Court Press as a Third Team All-American this past season. She was named to the Wooden Award final ballot on three separate occasions as well as the Naismith Midseason Top 30.
Named the 2011 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year and the A-10 Championship Most Outstanding Player, Phillips claimed one of the league’s individual awards in each of her four seasons, as the Indianapolis, Ind., native was selected as Rookie of the Year in 2007-08, Player of the Year in 2008-09 and Defensive Player of the Year in 2009-10. She became the A-10's all-time leading rebounder this past year and led the Atlantic 10 in rebounds (12.4 rpg.) for the fourth consecutive year - the first player to do so in the league's 29-year history. Phillips ranked second nationally in rebounding and third in field goal percentage (.605) in 2010-11 as well, in leading the Musketeers to their second straight A-10 Championship title and back-to-back perfect Atlantic 10 seasons.
The three-time A-10 All-Defensive Team selection and three-time All-Conference pick, started in a XU record 130 consecutive games, set the single-season rebounding record at Xavier (399 – 2009-10) and became one of only three players in school history to surpass the 1,000 point-1,000 rebounds mark. She is listed among the top five in the Musketeer record books in five statistical categories, including rebounds (1st, 1,552); field goal percentage (2nd, .608); blocked shots (2nd; 209); field goals made (3rd, 782); and scoring (4th, 1,895). She also competed for the United States in the 2009 World University Games.
Off the court, Phillips participated in numerous community service projects, including Cincinnati’s Race for a Cure, Diabetes Walk for a Cure, the Ronald McDonald House, and served as a soup kitchen volunteer. She continually mentored youth in the Cincinnati area through various basketball camps, speaking engagements and after-school programs. Phillips, a entrepreneurial studies/marketing major at Xavier, became the second highest draft pick in school history, as she was selected eighth overall in the 2011 WNBA Draft.
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which is in its 21st year, honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Student-athletes are nominated only once in their career by their institution. Elmore and Phillips’ selection was determined through a vote conducted by the league’s Senior Woman Administrators, who administer the conference selection process.
A selection committee composed of representatives from NCAA member schools and conferences will select 10 nominees from each division to form the Top 30 nominees, which will be announced in August. From among those 30 candidates, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division. Finally, the members of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year. The top 10 honorees and the nine finalists from Divisions I, II and III will be honored and the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year winner announced at a dinner in Indianapolis October 16, 2011.
In the past four years, 522 student-athletes were nominated by their conference or independent institutions, representing multiple ethnicities and all NCAA-sponsored sports within Divisions I, II and III. In 2010 alone, 452 student-athletes were nominated by their institutions. From 1998 through 2005, an average of 410 female student-athletes per year were nominated for the award; and since the program’s inception in 1991, 1729 women have been recognized as state or conference honorees.