March 3, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Missouri's senior trio of Tiffany Brooks, Carlynn Savant and EeTisha Riddle were all named to the women's basketball All-Big 12 Team, as announced by the league office on Friday.

Riddle was named to the All-Big 12 First Team after leading the Tigers in in scoring, rebounds, blocked shots and minutes played. The two-time Player of the Week from O'Fallon, Ill. has 16 career double-doubles and 11 this season to rank fourth in the Big 12. She is averaging 16.3 points per game on the season and 17.3 in Big 12 play. Riddle sits 17 points shy of joining the 1,000-point club at Mizzou.

It marks the fourth time in the last seven seasons that a Tiger has been voted to the first team by the coaches. Riddle joins Amanda Lassiter (2001), Evan Unrau (2003-04) and LaToya Bond (2006) as first-teamers in the Big 12 era. This marks just the second time in the last 17 years that Mizzou athletes have earned first team honors in back-to-back campaigns.

Brooks and Savant were each named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

Brooks has averaged 11 points per game in her Mizzou career and is second on the team and ninth in the Big 12 with 13.4 ppg this year. A native of Leavenworth, Kan., Brooks also leads the team and is eighth in the conference in steals, with 1.75 per contest.

Savant has posted steady numbers all year long and is poised to conclude her career ranked among the top-five in the Mizzou history in a number of categories. She already holds the career 3-pointers made record with 142 and is currently second in the nation in free throw percentage at 90.7 percent. Earlier in the week the Euless, Texas product was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team after collecting Academic All-District plaudits last month. This is Savant's second-consecutive year to earn honorable mention from the league.

Missouri (17-12, 5-11 Big 12) will return to action in next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship where the 10th-seeded Tigers will face seventh-seeded Texas (17-13, 6-10) in the first round at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The winner will play No. 2 seed Oklahoma at the same time in Wednesday's quarterfinals.

Other Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Awards included: Coach of the Year: Gary Blair, Texas A&M; Player of the Year: Courtney Paris, Oklahoma; Newcomer of the Year: Bernice Mosby, Baylor; Freshman of the Year: Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State; Defensive Player of the Year: Courtney Paris, Oklahoma; Sixth Man Award: Danielle Gant, Texas A&M