March 15, 2012
NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt sophomore guard Christina Foggie has been named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-Region 3 team, it was announced on Thursday, March 15 by the organization.
Foggie won Vanderbilt’s first Southeastern Conference scoring title since 1991 after averaging 17.9 points during the regular season. She also led the league in three-point percentage (42.1%) and is third in the nation in that category.
She led Vanderbilt with 11 20-point performances on the season, including becoming just the second player in program history to have five-straight 20-point games. Her top scoring game on the season was 34-points in a 68-48 upset of No. 17/15 Georgia. She was Vanderbilt’s top scorer in 15 contests this season.
Foggie has also started all 31 contests this year after a freshman campaign that saw her miss 10 contests due to a pair of concussions.
“I don’t think anybody expected her to do what she’s done so consistently all season,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb said of Foggie. “I knew she had an edge and an advantage because I knew she was a great basketball player when I recruited her. I knew the troubles she went through last year; she wasn’t herself.”
Balcomb feels that’s why Foggie’s sophomore campaign has been all the more impressive.
“I didn’t know she could maintain it the way she has,” Balcomb added. “I thought she was our hidden secret, that she didn’t get pre-season anything. (What impressed me) was the consistency and the fact that they started to tag her and put their best defender on her every night. She became more of a complete player.”
After Foggie “didn’t get pre-season anything,” as Balcomb put it, she is now one of 52 finalists for 10 spots on the WBCA’s All-America Team.
Foggie has also been named First Team All-SEC by the league’s coaches and the Associated Press.
She is Vanderbilt’s eight different player to earn WBCA All-Region honors and it is the 10th time a Commodore has made the cut (Vandy’s all-time leading scorer, Chantelle Anderson, is a three-time selection). The most recent was Jence Rhoads last year. It is the fifth time Balcomb has coached an All-Region selection.
On five occasions, those All-Region honorees have gone on to be All-America selections. Chantelle Anderson was the last Commodore to make that cut, doing it in 2002 and 2003. Sheri Sam (1996), Heidi Gillingham (1993) and Wendy Scholtens (1990) are Vanderbilt’s other WBCA All-Americans.
Foggie was joined on the Region 3 team by six other SEC players, as the conference swept the region. Glory Johnson (Tennessee), A’dia Mathies (Kentucky) Anne Marie Armstrong (Georgia), Jasmine Hassell (Georgia), Jennifer George (Florida) and LaSondra Barrett (LSU) completed the team.
Foggie and the Commodores will host Middle Tennessee in first round NCAA Tournament action on Sunday, March 18. Tipoff between seventh-seeded Vanderbilt and the 10th-seeded Blue Raiders is set for 4:10 p.m. CT and the contest can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.
Tickets are available by clicking here or calling 615-322-GOLD (4653).