April 23, 2008

SAN DIEGO - Sophomore guard Jené Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) has been named the San Diego State women's basketball team MVP for the 2007-08 season, head coach Beth Burns announced at the Aztecs' annual year-end banquet at the Hilton Mission Valley on Wednesday evening.

Morris, in her first competitive season with the Aztecs, became just the third SDSU player to earn a spot on the Mountain West Conference second team and the first since 2001. She led the squad in scoring in both overall (14.1 ppg.) and conference contests, boasting the highest ever MWC average by an Aztec of 16.1 points per game to rank fifth in the league. Morris posted a conference high 2.97 steals per outing and ended up 27th nationally in that category. She also garnered conference player-of-the-week accolades following her 35-point performance at UNLV during the regular season and earned a spot on the MWC all-tournament squad after leading the Aztecs to their first-ever Mountain West Conference championship game appearance.

The team's best defensive player award went to Morris and senior Shanna Demus (Palmdale, Calif.). Demus, whose season was cut short due to injury, started the team's first 23 games and routinely drew defensive assignments against the opposition's top player. Demus ended her career with 128 steals and 55 blocks in 78 games.

Junior LaSandra Dixon (Azusa, Calif.) was named most improved player for the second year in a row, while sophomore Kim Spinardi (Merced, Calif.) garnered the Tammy Blackburn Coaches Award for her contributions to the team both on the court and in the classroom. Blackburn, who was Burns' first recruit in her first stint as head coach at SDSU, served as the banquet's emcee.

Five Aztecs received academic awards for recording a GPA of 3.0 or better and senior Shannon Clay (Inglewood, Calif.) and freshman Coco Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) shared most improved scholar-athlete honors.

The banquet was a special night for SDSU's four graduating seniors, Clay, Demus, Kate Eveland (Southlake, Texas) and Tamika Lipford (Oceanside, Calif.).

2007-08 Aztec Basketball Banquet Award Winners
Most Valuable Player - Jene' Morris
Best Defensive Players - Jene' Morris, Shanna Demus
Most Improved Player - LaSandra Dixon
Tammy Blackburn/Coaches Award - Kim Spinardi

Scholar-Athlete Awards (SDSU GPA above 3.0)
Shanna Demus, Kate Eveland, Paris Johnson, Tamika Lipford, Kim Spinardi

Most Improved Scholar-Athletes - Shannon Clay, Coco Davis

Team Captain Awards - Quenese Davis, Shanna Demus

Senior Awards - Shannon Clay, Shanna Demus, Kate Eveland, Tamika Lipford