Shepherd SMU's first Defensive Player of the Year ... ever

[PonyPride]

SMU's Sharee Shepherd Named C-USA Defensive Player of the Year
Senior led Mustangs in steals, blocked shots


DALLAS (SMU) - Having established herself as the SMU women's basketball team's top defensive player, Sharee Shepherd capped off her final regular season with the Mustangs by winning the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Award.

The senior forward from Houston regularly guarded the opposing team's best offensive player, led the Mustangs with 85 steals (the second-highest total among all Conference USA players) and also in blocked shots, with a career-high 27.

Shepherd's Defensive Player of the Year award came just one day after she became the fourth SMU player to be named to a conference All-Defensive team, joining Nici Johnson (in the 1997-98 season), Karlin Kennedy (1998-99) and D-dra Rucker (who did it twice: in 1999-2000 and 2000-01). Johnson, Kennedy and Rucker all were honored by the Western Athletic Conference, making Shepherd the first to be honored since SMU joined Conference USA. Shepherd is the first player in the history of the SMU program to earn the highest individual award as conference defensive player of the year in any conference.

Her season total gives her 77 blocked shots in her career, the seventh-highest total in the history of the program, and her last steal of the regular season gave her 237 in her career - the third-highest mark in SMU history.

Shepherd and the Mustangs return to the court at 11 a.m. Friday in the second round of the Conference USA tournament (after receiving a first-round bye as a result of finishing second in C-USA) against Tulsa. The game can be heard live on KKGM (163 AM).


SMU, the only Division I athletic program in Dallas, Texas, sponsors 17 sports and has been ranked as the top school in its conference for 10 straight years in the Director's Cup overall athletic rankings. More information about SMU and its coaches, athletes and teams is available at www.SMUMustangs.com.