Fever F Catchings named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year

Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, who led the WNBA in steals this season, was named Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday.

Catchings received 35 votes from a national panel of 50 writers and broadcasters. She easily outdistanced three-time winner Sheryl Swoopes of the Houston Comets, who received seven votes.

Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks, who won last year's award, was third with three votes.

Catchings' average of 2.65 steals per game was more than one-half steal better than Swoopes (2.00 spg). Catchings, 26, tallied five or more steals in 13 of 34 games, including a league-high eight in a July 17 game against Connecticut.

The 6-1 Catchings also ranked third in the league in defensive rebounds (5.7 per game) and helped the Fever hold opponents to 62.7 points, the second-fewest points allowed in the league.

Yolanda Griffith of the Sacramento Monarchs, the 1999 winner of the award, and Katie Douglas of the Connecticut Sun received two votes apiece. Douglas' teammate Margo Dydek got one vote.