HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - After leading the University of New Orleans women's
basketball team to the Sun Belt Conference semifinals for the first
time since 1998, guard Brittany Helm was named to the league
tournament's all-tournament team on Tuesday afternoon.
The first SBC All-Tournament selection in school history, Helm is one of only three UNO players to ever receive the honor of being an all-tournament team selection at a conference tournament. The two other players, Pam Cox and Carvie Upshaw, earned placement to the American South
All-Tournament teams in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
The lone player selected in a vote of the media and head coaches that
did not play in Tuesday's championship game between Middle Tennessee
and UALR, Helm was joined on the squad by MT's Alysha Clark, who was
named the tournament's 'Most Outstanding Player' after leading her team
to the league championship.
Clark's teammate Anne Marie Lanning was the other Blue
Raiders' representative while UALR had a trio of players on the squad, including Chastity Reed, Shanika
Butler and Kim Sitzmann.
Helm averaged 15.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game over three
tournament games, including a tournament-high of 17 points in the win
by the No. 12 Lady Privateers over No. 5 Florida Atlantic in the first
round of the tournament.
A focal point of the UNO offense all season, the Baton Rouge, La.
native stepped up her game in the second half of the quarterfinal
contest against No. 4 Denver. As her team trailed by two at the break,
the senior guard took her game to another level, scoring eight points,
grabbing four rebounds and coming up with a crucial block during the
final 20 minutes of play.
Helm's Lady Privateer career came to an end in the team's Monday loss
to top-seeded and eventual runner-up UALR. Over the course of three
years and 93 games at UNO, Helm scored 1,139 points, ranking her ninth
in school history. Helm also ranks amongst the top 10 all-time in field
goals made, assists and minutes.
2010 SUN BELT ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Brittany Helm, New Orleans
Kim Sitzmann, UALR
Shanika Bulter, UALR
Chastity Reed, UALR
Anne Marie Lanning, Middle Tennessee
Most Outstanding Player: Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee
ALL-TIME UNO ALL-CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS
1988: Pam Cox, American South
1989: Carvie Upshaw, American South
2010: Brittany Helm, Sun Belt
