Four ASU women's basketball players earn Pac-10 honors


Four Arizona State women's basketball players were recognized by the Pac-10 on Tuesday as the conference announced its annual awards for the 2010-11 season as voted on by the league's head coaches.

Recognized by the league were senior guard Dymond Simon (All-Pac-10), senior post Becca Tobin (All-Pac-10 honorable mention), junior post Kimberly Brandon (All-Pac-10 honorable mention) and senior guard Tenaya Watson (Pac-10 Defensive honorable mention).

A starter in 26 games this season (missed two contests due to concussion), Simon currently leads ASU in scoring (13.8 ppg), 3-point field goals (34), free throws attempted (112) and made (90), assists (2.6 apg) and is second in steals (1.3 spg). She is fourth in the Pac-10 in free throw percentage (.804), ninth in scoring and 14th in 3-pointers per game. Simon, who was named Second-Team All-Pac-10 in 2009, has led or tied for the team lead in scoring 15 times this season. Earlier this season Simon became the 20th ASU player to score 1,000 career points (currently has 1,192 points). Simon is ninth on ASU's all-time list with 102 career 3-point FGs and seventh in career free throw percentage (.800, 244-305).

A starter in all 27 games she has played in (missed contest vs. Cal Poly on Dec. 3 because of a foot injury), Tobin currently leads the team in FG pct. (.497), is second in rebounds (5.7) and blocks per game (0.8) and third in scoring (8.4 ppg). She is sixth in the Pac-10 in field goal percentage, 12th in blocks per game and 16th in rebounds per game. Tobin, who also earned All-Pac-10 honorable mention honors last season, has scored in double figures 11 times this season with nine of those instances coming in ASU's last 17 games. Earlier this season she averaged 18.0 points (16-26, .615 FGs) in back-to-back games vs. Oregon (Jan. 2) and at Cal (Jan. 6). Her performance at Cal included a career-high scoring effort (24 points). Currently with 97 career blocks, Tobin needs 3 more rejections to pass former Sun Devil Fran Ciak for second place on ASU's all-time list.

Without question one of the biggest reasons for ASU's earlier seven-game winning streak and its current run of five wins in six games has been the emergence of Brandon. A starter in 26 of 28 games, Brandon currently leads ASU in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and is second in both scoring (9.9 ppg) and field goal percentage (.476). She is tied for fifth in the Pac-10 in offensive rebounds per game (2.8), is ninth in field goal percentage and 11th in rebounding. Brandon averaged 11.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in Pac-10 play, while accounting for five double-doubles this season. Earlier this season Brandon averaged 12.0 points and 9.4 rebounds (.587 FGs) during ASU's seven-game winning streak in Dec.-Jan. More recently, Brandon has averaged 15.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals while shooting 57 percent from the field (33-58) and 91 percent from the line (20-22) in ASU's last six games (ASU is 5-1 during that span).

The only Sun Devil to start all 28 games this season, Watson currently leads the team in steals (1.9 spg), is second in assists (2.3 apg) and 3-point field goals (22) and fourth in scoring (7.4 ppg) and rebounding (4.2 rpg - most among ASU's guards). She is No. 3 in the Pac-10 in free throw shooting percentage (.807) and 14th in steals per game. Earlier this season Watson came within one steal of tying the school record when she had nine in ASU's win over Cal Poly (Dec. 3). Later that month Watson had the best game of her career in ASU's upset of (then) No. 16/18 DePaul (Dec. 21) as she posted career bests in points (25), field goals (9) and 3-point field goals (4), tied her career high in rebounds (8) and added four steals. Most recently Watson, who has 19 assists in ASU's last four games, scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half of ASU's win at Oregon State last Saturday.

Currently 19-9 (11-7 Pac-10), the Sun Devils begin play in the 2011 Pacific Life Basketball Tournament on Wednesday (noon PT/1 p.m. MT) when they face Oregon State. The game can be heard live on 1440 AM KAZG and can be seen via live streaming on the Pac-10's Youtube channel: YouTube.com/Pac10Conference.