Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Anosike's on the rise

Building on an impressive freshman season at the college level, Lady Vol basketball player Nicky Anosike appears to be stepping her game up another notch against international competition this summer.

Anosike, a 6-4 post player, produced 14 points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes of action Sunday as the U.S. thumped Serbi and Motenegro 94-68 in the FIBA Women's Under-19 World Championships at Tunis, Tunisia.

Anosike came on strongly near the end of her first season with Tennessee last winter. She led all Lady Vol scorers in back-to-back games against Alabama (19 points on Feb. 27) and Auburn (15 points on March 4).

The talented New Yorker then turned in an imposing showing in the NCAA Tournament. She scored 11 points with 6 rebounds in the Round of 32 game against Purdue, then produced a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) in the Sweet 16 win over Texas Tech. After a 14-point, 7-rebound effort against Rutgers in the Elite Eight, she closed with a 7-point, 13-rebound outing against Michigan State in the Final Four semifinals.

Anosike finished the season with averages of 6.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 20.3 minutes per game. She grabbed nearly half (104) of her 214 total rebounds off the offensive board. She also recorded 50 assists (including seven in one game against Arkansas) and 60 blocked shots.

Clearly, this is a budding star whose stock is on the rise.

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