Brandi Teamer Named ACC Rookie of the Year

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March 6, 2002

RALEIGH, N.C. – Virginia’s Brandi Teamer (Joliet, Ill.) has earned the 2002 Associated Press ACC Rookie of the Year accolade, the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association announced on Wednesday.

The 6-0 forward was also named to the All-ACC second team and ACC All-Freshmen Team last week after helping UVA to a third-place finish in the ACC standings.

“Brandi has been a tremendous player for us all year,” said Virginia women’s basketball head coach Debbie Ryan. “She’s given us an inside game presence that we didn’t know we would have at the beginning of the season. She’s played at this level all year. Brandi was very mature coming in, and she’s adjusted to the college game. She is very deserving of the award.”

A starter in all 29 games at Virginia as a true freshman, Teamer stands second in team scoring with 14.5 ppg and an ACC-best 9.0 rpg, She earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors six times during the regular season. The All-America candidate also leads the Conference in double-double performances with 13 to date. In ACC games only, she was the UVa scoring leader with 16.1 ppg. She was also named to Tulane’s Doubletree Classic all-tournament team in December.

The frosh grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds, all on the defensive end, against No. 19/20 North Carolina. She combined with fellow freshman LaTonya Blue to score 51 of UVa’s 68 points (75 percent) in the win at N.C. State. The forward recorded a string of six consecutive double-doubles in ACC play, and she tallied a career-high 26 points twice.

With the honor, Teamer became the fourth Cavalier in school history to earn the Conference’s annual rookie honor. She joined former All-American Dawn Staley (1989), Tora Suber (1994), and Schuye LaRue (2000) on the prestigious list.

Virginia (17-12) now awaits an at-large berth into the 2002 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The 64-team bracket will be announced on Sunday, March 10 live on ESPN at 5 p.m.