Smith, Anderson share MWC's top honor

Good things came in twos for the BYU and Utah women's basketball teams as the Mountain West Conference announced its annual awards and all-conference teams Monday.

Utah's Kim Smith and BYU's Ambrosia Anderson were named co-players of the year as the Mountain West Conference split its top honor for the second straight year. For Smith, it was her fourth consecutive player-of-the-year recognition, having shared it last season with teammate Shona Thorburn.

Meanwhile, Anderson and Cougar head coach Jeff Judkins helped BYU claim two of the highest individual honors, as Judkins was named coach of the year after guiding his team to the MWC's regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed at this week's Mountain West tournament in Denver.

Smith was joined by Thorburn as repeat selections to the Mountain West first team, with Utah the only program with multiple first-team honorees.

A four-time first-team all-Mountain West honoree, Smith led the league this year in scoring at 20.4 points and rebounding with 7.9 boards through the regular season. She finishes her college career as Utah's all-time leading scorer with 2,165 points going into this week's MWC tournament.

An honorable-mention all-MWC pick last year, Anderson joined Smith as the only two unanimous selections to this year's first team. She finished the regular season averaging 18.3 points — second only to Smith — and 7.4 rebounds a game while leading the Cougars to the league crown. She scored in double figures in all but two games this year and surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season.

Thorburn, who concludes her Utah career as the Utes' all-time leader in assists, averaged 11.2 points and 6.2 assists a game. The senior point guard is a repeat first-team selection from last season.

In his fifth season as BYU's head coach, Judkins has led BYU to a 23-4 overall record, a 13-3 league mark and the Cougars' first Mountain West title. He won his 100th career game last week.

Wyoming claimed the other two individual awards, with freshman Megan McGuffey named the newcomer of the year and sophomore teammate Hanna Zavecz the defender of the year.

BYU junior center Dani Kubik was a second-team all-Mountain West honoree, the only center named among the conference's first, second and third teams.

The rest of the Cougars' starting five — guards Mallary Gillespie, Melinda Johnsen and Jennie Keele — were all listed as honorable-mention selections.

2006 MWC women's basketball awards