Ap Names Rizzotti Top Player Iowa Coach Angie Lee Joins Connecticut Guard For Honors

A rookie coach and a veteran player have earned the top awards in women’s basketball from the Associated Press.

Angie Lee, who engineered a dramatic turnaround at Iowa in her first season as a head coach, was named the national coach of the year.

The player of the year is Connecticut senior Jennifer Rizzotti, whose leadership and hustle have kept the Huskies in the running for a second straight national championship.

A year ago, Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma won coach of the year and Husky Rebecca Lobo the top player award.

Lee earned the coaching award with an impressive debut in a difficult situation. Following legendary coach Vivian Stringer, who had left to become the coach at Rutgers, Lee turned Iowa from an 11-17 team in 1994-95 to a 27-win team that won the Big Ten.

Rizzotti’s importance to UConn lies more in results than numbers.

The 5-foot-5 guard, a first-team All-American, averages a modest 10.8 points a game, but her team is 34-3 with 20 straight victories. She also averages 5.8 assists and three steals a game.

“But more importantly,” Auriemma said, “unless you sit down and watch her play, it’s like saying does John Stockton belong on the Dream Team when you’ve got so many great players? Is he Michael Jordan? No. But when you watch him play, you realize the things he does that affect the outcome regardless of how many points he scores. It’s the same with Jennifer. It’s a combination of things.”