moore, breland bring home women's basketball oscars

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to give out the women's basketball Oscar awards.

Yes, I know there are more games to be played. But since the real Oscars were given out on Sunday night, I thought it would be a great idea to give out the Oscar awards as the women's basketball season moves into conference championship week.

There is a total of 10 awards given out here in the women's basketball Oscars. If you win, that's wonderful. If you don't win, oh, well, there's always next year.

Best Freshman -- And the Oscar goes to ... Ebony Rowe, Middle Tennessee State

After 29 games, the Lexington, Ky., native has played a big role for Middle Tennesee State. She's the team's top scorer at 17.3 points per game and top rebounder at 10 boards per game. Rowe recorded her 15th double-double of the season in the Blue Raiders' 64-56 win over Western Kentucky on Sunday. Rowe is also one of the nation's top shooters at 59 percent (196-330). Now, Rowe is looking to end her freshman season with a trip to the NCAA tournament. Her team is 23-6 overall and finished first in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference at 14-2.

Best Sophomore -- And the Oscar goes to ... Brittney Griner, Baylor

There's no surprise that the 6-foot-8 Griner is the best sophomore in the country. She's among the nation's top scorers (22.4 points per game) and top shot-blockers (4.6 blocks per game). Griner also had several dunks, including one against Texas Tech. Griner was Baylor's top scorer in every game but six of them. She poured in 35 against Liberty on Nov. 26. Griner is looking to go back to the Final Four. After a come-from-behind win over Oklahoma on Sunday, the Bears are 26-2 with two regular season games remaining. They were ranked No. 1 for all of January and most of February.

Best Junior -- And the Oscar goes to ... Courtney Hurt, VCU

Hurt reached a milestone on Sunday against William & Mary. After scoring a team-high 21 points, the Georgia native set the Rams' single-season scoring record of 622 points. Hurt, who will turn 21 on Saturday, is also the nation's top rebounder at 12.7 boards per game and is the country's fifth-leading scorer at 23 points per game. She's the only junior in the nation to be in the top five in scoring and rebounding.

"When you look at great rebounders, whether it's in the women's game or the men's side, they sort of have a knack for just knowing how to go get the ball," VCU coach Beth Cunningham said in the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch on Jan. 23. "She has that."

Best Senior -- And the Oscar goes to ... Jessica Breland, North Carolina

Last year, Breland was in a hospital bed getting treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. This winter, Breland is turning in a remarkable senior season, averaging 11.9 points and seven rebounds per game. Breland's return to the basketball court is one of the biggest stories in women's college basketball this year.

"What she's gone through with the cancer and all, she's just so mature -- talking all of the time," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said in the Daily Tar Heel on Nov. 5. "Of course, I respect her so much, her leadership and all. She wants to have a great senior hyear. She wants to win."

So far, Breland is helping the Tar Heels win a lot of games. Despite ending its regular season with four straight losses, North Carolina will take a 22-7 record in the ACC tournament this week.

Best Actress (best player) -- And the Oscar goes to ... Maya Moore, Connecticut

Like Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan, Moore's effort this season deserves a big round of applause. The senior has been Ms. Everything for the Huskies, leading the team in scoring (23.4 points per game), rebounds (7.8 boards per game), 3-pointers (50), assists (129), blocks (35) and steals (68). The three-time all-American is also leading UConn to a 28-1 record and a No. 1 ranking in the polls. Moore, who helped the Huskies win two national championships, was scheduled to play her final home game of her four-year college basketball career on Monday against Syracuse.

"I came in with Maya, and you know, she's just an amazing person," UConn senior teammate Lorin Dixon said in the UConn Daily Campus on Feb. 15. "To watch and just to see her get all of this, I mean, she works harder than anyone on the team. She's a great leader and she sets the tone for us."

Best Supporting Actress (best bench player) -- And the Oscar goes to ... Maggie Lucas, Penn State

The freshman from Narberth, Pa., doesn't cuss or trash talk like Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Melissa Leo. She's just been a sparkplug off the bench for most of the season for the Nittany Lions. Lucas is the team's leading scorer at 16.3 points per game and leads the team in 3-pointers with 102. She played off the bench in 29 of Penn State's 30 games this season. On Sunday, Lucas got her first start of the season and it was a memorable one as she became just the third player in Big Ten history to hit 100 treys or more in a season.

"It's great, we're proud of her," Penn State senior Julia Trogele said in the Penn State Daily Collegian on Monday.

Lucas' play has been one of the big reasons of Penn State's successful season. The Nittany Lions finished their regular season at 22-8 and placed second in the Big Ten standings at 11-5.

Best Conference -- And the Oscar goes to ... the ACC

The race for the ACC regular season title was pretty competitive this year. Six teams were fighting for first place for most of the season. The conference title wasn't decided until Oscar Sunday, when Duke beat North Carolina and Miami knocked off Georgia Tech, meaning that Duke and Miami share the ACC regular season title at 12-2

Florida State, which was tied for first with Duke and Miami last week, finished third at 11-3. The loss to Miami cost the Seminoles a chance for the title. Maryland and Georgia Tech finished tied for fourth at 9-5 and North Carolina was sixth at 8-6.

Also, all of six teams are ranked in the top 25 RPI and five of those teams (Duke, Florida State, Miami, Maryland and North Carolina) are ranked in the top 25 AP poll.

The ACC tournament begins this week in Greensboro with an automatic NCAA berth at stake.

"The regular season's over -- it's a new season," Hatchell said in the Daily Tar Heel on Monday. "We're ready to go to the tournament. If we play as hard as we did tonight (against Duke), then I think we have a great shot at it."

Best Director (best coach) -- And the Oscar goes to ... Katie Meier, Miami
A year ago, Miami lost to California in the WNIT championship game.

Maybe that loss motivated the Hurricanes this season. After beating Georgia Tech on Sunday, Miami is turning in one of its best seasons in program history. The Hurricanes will go into this week's ACC tournament with a 26-3 record.

Miami's only losses were to Nebraska, Duke and Florida State. The Hurricanes shared the ACC regular season championship with Duke.

So far, Meier is enjoying her best season of her six-year tenure as Miami coach. She's two wins shy from her 100th win as Miami coach. Meier is 98-87 at Miami.

Offense has been the key factor in the seniorless Hurricanes' strong season. Miami is the fourth-ranked offensive team in the nation at 80.5 points per game. The Hurricanes also have three players averaging in double figures.

Not bad for a team that was predicted to finish eighth in the ACC when the season started in November.

"We don't care what other people think," Meier said on Sunday after the win over Georgia Tech. "We know what greatness is. We know if we're far away from winners, we're close to it and we define ourselves from that."

Best Team -- And the Oscar goes to ... Connecticut

So far, the Huskies are the best team until someone knocks them out. Even though it suffered a loss to Stanford on Dec. 30 that snapped their 90-game winning streak, Connecticut is still the champ. With Maya Moore leading the way, the Huskies still have a shot of winning their third consecutive national crown.

UConn (28-1) also has a strong supporting cast in junior Tiffany Hayes, freshmen Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson and sophomore Heather Buck and Kelly Faris. The Huskies ranked in the top 10 nationally on both ends of the court.

Best Picture (best game) -- And the Oscar goes to ....drum roll, please.....Virginia vs. North Carolina State, Feb. 10, Raleigh, North Carolina.

It was a terrific game with a Hollywood ending. After four overtimes, Virginia came from behind to beat North Carolina State 94-92. It was the only four-overtime game in women's college basketball this season.

Virginia trailed 92-88 with 1:55 left in the fourth overtime after N.C. State's Marissa Kastanek hit a 3-pointer. But Virginia' China Crosby scored a layup with 1:01 left, then hit two free throws with 26 seconds left to tie the game at 92-92. Kastanek had a turnover with five seconds remaining, setting up a game-winning basket by Ariana Moorer as time expired.

It was the first four-overtime game for Virginia and North Carolina State. The Wolfpack rallied from a 10-point deficit to send the game to overtime. Bonae Holston hit a jumper with 1:01 left to tie the game at 56-56 and send the game to an extra period.

N.C. State led 74-69 with 2:43 left in the second overtime, but Virginia came back to tie it at 77-77 after Crosby scored a layup with five seconds left.

"We work on late-game situations every single day," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said in the Cavalier Daily on Feb. 11. "Five points is nothing to us. We never think about anything but winning."

Hadn't the Cavaliers won that game, they would not have been guaranteed their seventh straight winning season. Virginia finished its regular season at 16-14 and plays Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC tournament this week.

The loss to Virginia was a tough pill to swallow for N.C. State.

"Words can't describe what we went through," N.C. State coach Kellie Harper said in the N.C. State Technician on Feb. 11. "These kids have been through so much, and every single time there has been adversity they have picked themselves up and they do it all over again. I don't know if there is another team in the country that can handle what they've had thrown at them."