University of Minnesota Athletics
AP All-America, Wooden Award Top 5 for Banham
3/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Rachel Banham has been named Minnesota's second-ever Associated Press First Team All-American. She is also a John R. Wooden Award All-American, and is invited to the award show in Los Angeles April 8.
The Golden Gophers' senior ranks second in the nation in scoring this year. Averaging 28.6 points per game, Banham set a program record. She averaged a Big Ten-record 30.5 points per game in conference play. The Big Ten Player of the Year scored at least 20 points in 30 of Minnesota's 32 games. This included an NCAA record-tying 60-point game, a 52-point game, a 48-point game and seven other games of at least 30 points.
Banham made more 3-pointers in a game (10), season (119) and career (354) than any Gopher in program history. She set a Big Ten conference-only record with 75 in 18 games. She also averaged a team-high and career-high 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, and ranked second on the team with 3.8 assists per contest.
The Lakeville, Minnesota, native's historic senior year capped off a prolific collegiate career. Banham finished her time in the Maroon and Gold with 3,093 career points, ranking sixth on the NCAA's all-time list.
Banham joins former teammate Amanda Zahui B., who earned the honor last year, in the ranks of All-Americans coached by Marlene Stollings. The two are the first Gophers to make the AP's first team. Banham had previously earned honorable mention from the AP two times.
Banham was on the Wooden Award's final ballot as a junior in 2014. She is the second Gopher to make top five All-Americans, as Janel McCarville did so in 2005. Joining her in the top five are Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell, South Carolina's A'ja Wilson and Connecticut's Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson.
This season, Banham is also an espnW All-America First Team selection. She is a WBCA All-Region 4 nominee for the organization's All-America Team.
