Fast Break
Women’s basketball
Vandersloot, January picked
Gonzaga sophomore Courtney Vandersloot, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, and Arizona State senior Briann January, the two-time Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, received honorable mention All-America recognition from The Associated Press.
Vandersloot was third in the nation in assists at 7.3 per game as well as averaging more than 16 points a game. January, a three-time All-Pac-10 selection, became the Sun Devils’ career leader in assists as well as their career free-throw shooting leader.
Two members from top-ranked Connecticut made the first team, sophomore forward Maya Moore and senior point guard Renee Montgomery. It is the second selection for Moore, who can become just the second player to be a first-team All-American all four years. The first is Oklahoma senior center Courtney Paris. The other two first-team members are Louisville senior forward Angel McCoughtry and Maryland senor guard Kristi Toliver.
Stanford senior center Jayne Appel is on the second team and California senior center Ashley Walker is on the third team.
Men’s basketball
3 Zags, 1 Coug in Final Four fun
Three Gonzaga University men’s basketball players will be in Detroit this week.
Jeremy Pargo and Micah Downs will participate in the State Farm College Slam Dunk Championship. Gonzaga’s Josh Heytvelt and Washington State’s Aron Baynes will play on opposite teams in the Hershey’s College All-Star game.
The slam dunk and accompanying 3-point competition will air Thursday on ESPN at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.
Heytvelt will play on the Reese’s All-Stars that will be coached by Bruce Weber of the University of Illinois and Purdue University head coach Matt Painter. Heytvelt will be teammates with John Bryant of West Coast Conference foe Santa Clara University and Alfred Aboya of UCLA as the other big men on the roster.
Heytvelt and his teammates will be matched against the Hershey’s All-Stars coached by Nolan Richardson. Baynes and Luke Nevill of Utah will provide the post competition for the Hershey’s squad.
Friday’s game will be televised live at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time on CBS College Sports.