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ELLENSBURG (Feb. 9) -- The top four point scorers in the history of Central Washington University women's basketball are among 12 former student-athletes named to the CWU women's basketball all-decade team for 2000 through 2009.
The team was selected by current head coach
Jeff Whitney, who is in his 13th year as the Wildcats' head coach.
The top two scorers in school history, centers Rose Shaw and Laura Wright, headline the all-decade team. Shaw, who split her career between the decade of the 1990s and 2000s (playing between 1998 and 2002), was the second-leading scorer in the decade with 1,259 points between Jan. 1, 2000 and Dec. 31, 2009. The 2001-02 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year finished her career with 1,696 points over four seasons and is the second-leading rebounder in school history behind Wright. Wright, who played from 2003-07, scored 1,432 points and owns the school's career record with 816 rebounds. Both she and Shaw averaged 7.7 rebounds per game during the 2000s.
Wing Hanna Hull, who ranks third in school history in career scoring with 1,188 points, was one of three all-decade team players to start 90 or more games during the decade. The Pateros, native had more three-pointers made in the 2000s than any other Wildcat, knocking down 157 treys.
Guard Meggen Kautzky is the other career 1,000-point scorer named to the 2000-09 all-decade team. Like Shaw, Kautzky split time between the 1990s and 2000s and was in the middle of her freshman season at the turn of the century. A four-year starter, she played in and started 98 games from 2000 on, averaged 9.9 points per game during that time, and had more assists (312) and steals (185) than any other CWU women's basketball player during the decade.
Another of the school's most prolific scorers on the all-decade team is Jamie Corwin. Corwin, who joined Shaw as the only Wildcats to earn first-team all-conference honors during the decade, began her career at Division I San Diego before playing her final two seasons with the Wildcats in 2004-05 and 2005-06, combining for 717 points (13.5 per game). She also had 130 assists and 105 steals in two seasons and was an 85.3 percent free-throw shooter. Her single-game high of 37 points against Grand Canyon as a senior remains a school record.
Five of the women's basketball all-decade team selections came to Central from the central and eastern parts of the state of Washington. Hull (Pateros), Kautzky (Richland), Karissa Martin (East Wenatchee), Elyse (Mengarelli) Maras (Yakima), and Lindsay Weiss (Goldendale) all played their prep basketball east of the Cascade mountains before embarking on their Wildcat careers.
More than half of the all-decade players spent most of their careers at Central during the early part of the decade, when the Wildcats qualified for three NCAA Division II national tournaments in a four-year period.
Whitney's “team of the decade” was his second NCAA tournament team in 2000-01, which went 20-8 overall and posted a 15-7 record in Pacific West Conference play in the school's final year before moving to the GNAC. Three players from that team—Kautzky, Shaw, and Dawnita LiaBraaten—are all members of the all-decade team.
CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-DECADE TEAM: 2000-09
Team of the Decade: 2000-01 (20-8 record, second consecutive NCAA Division II tournament appearance)
Loni Ainslie, 2001-05 (Graham/Bethel HS)
Jamie Corwin, 2004-06 (Auburn/Liberty HS)
Hanna Hull, 2004-08 (Pateros)
Angela Jensen, 2001-04 (Bellingham/Sehome HS)
Meggen Kautzky, 1999-2003 (Richland)
Dawnita LiaBraaten, 2000-02 (Kelso)
Elyse (Mengarelli) Maras, 2006-08 (Yakima/East Valley HS)
Karissa Martin, 2001-03 (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS)
Rose Shaw, 1998-2002 (Bellevue/Interlake HS)
Alayna Vincent, 2001-05 (Portland, Ore./Lincoln HS)
Lindsay Weiss, 2002-04 (Goldendale)
Laura Wright, 2003-07 (Longview/Mark Morris HS)
