STORRS, Conn. (April 20, 2004) — University of Connecticut women’s basketball standout Diana Taurasi (Chino, Calif.) has been named as the recipient of the 2004 Honda Sports Award for Women’s Basketball which is awarded annually to the nation’s most outstanding player.

This marks the second consecutive year that Taurasi has earned the Honda Award and she is the first player in Connecticut women’s basketball history to win the award in back-to-back seasons.

The Honda Award is presented to the top collegiate women’s athlete(s) in 12 different sports. Taurasi is now eligible to be named as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year which will be announced in June by a separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions.

The winner of the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup.

Taurasi is the fifth UConn women’s basketball player to be recognized with the honor, joining Rebecca Lobo (1995), Jennifer Rizzotti (1996), Shea Ralph (2000) and Sue Bird (2001).

Lobo (1995) and Rizzotti (1996) both went on to claim the Honda-Broderick Cup, which honors the nation’s top women’s collegiate athlete in all sports.

Other finalists for this year’s Honda Award for women’s basketball included Alana Beard (Duke), Nicole Powell (Stanford), Nicole Ohlde (Kansas State) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota).

Taurasi guided the Huskies to an overall record of 139-8, including a 22-1 mark in NCAA Tournament play, which included a run of three consecutive national titles (2002, 2003, 2004), during her time in Storrs.

She was named as the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four in each of the last two seasons and is a back-to-back winner of the Naismith National Player of the Year and the Nancy Lieberman Award, which recognizes the nation’s top point guard.

Taurasi recently became the second Connecticut women’s basketball player selected with the top overall pick in the WNBA Draft as she was taken No. 1 overall by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2004 draft on April 17.

The versatile guard closed out her UConn career as the program’s all-time leader in assists (648) and 3-point field goals (318). In addition she ranks as the third-leading scorer in school history with 2,156 points and is the first player (men or women) in Connecticut basketball history to tally 2,000 points, 600 assists and 600 rebounds in a career.