Waites, Wittenmeyer Receive Honors

3/6/2000

Head coach Traci Waites tabbed Big East Co-Coach of the Year; Wittenmeyer named to the Big East All-Rookie team.

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh Panthers second-year head women's basketball coach Traci Waites, who orchestrated the biggest one-year turnaround in school history, was named the Big East Conference's Co- Coach of the Year, while freshman forward Mandy Wittenmyer was selected to the All-Rookie team as voted on by the league's head coaches.

This season, Waites guided the Panthers to twice as many wins (16) as they achieved in all of last season when they finished at 8-19. Along the way to a 16-11 record, Waites led the Panthers to their second- best start ever (and best in six years) with an 11-3 mark. Pittsburgh's 16-11 record also marks the best finish since the 1994-95 season when the Panthers were 17-11.

In addition, Waites helped the Panthers to a three-way tie for sixth place in the Big East after being picked 10th in the preseason poll and finishing at 12th in 1998-99.

Wittenmyer, a 6-2 forward from Mechanicsburg, Pa., has emerged as the hub of the Pittsburgh offense and was the Panthers' leading scorer (11.8) and rebounder (7.5). She earned Big East Rookie of the Week honors three times and finished as the league's second-leading rebounder in games overall and in conference contests.

Wittenmyer, who started 25 of 26 games, has seven double-double performances to her credit this season to tie her for second in the Big East. In addition, she has scored in double-figures in 18 games and led Pittsburgh in both points and rebounds eight times.

Pittsburgh will begin play in the Big East Tournament March 4 when it takes on ninth-seeded St. John's at 4 p.m. All games will be played in the University of Connecticut's Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.