Baker and Humphrey get All SEC Honors
Georgia's Sherill Baker and Tasha Humphrey were unanimous first-team selections of league coaches to the eight-player All-SEC squad announced by the league office on Tuesday. In addition, Baker was tabbed the league's Defensive Player of the Year and Cori Chambers was a second-team All-SEC pick.
Baker, a 5-8, senior guard from Stone Mountain, Ga., ranks third in the SEC and No. 36 nationally in scoring at 18.0 points per game. She also leads the conference in steals and minutes played and ranks No. 8 in assist-to-turnover ratio, No. 10 in assists and No. 12 in both field goal and free throw percentage.
Humphrey, a 6-3, sophomore forward from Gainesville, Ga., was a unanimous first-team All-SEC pick for the second straight season. Humphrey ranks second in the SEC and 15th nationally in scoring at 20.2 points per game. She leads the league in three-point percentage and also ranks No. 3 in rebounds, No. 5 in free throw percentage, No. 9 in minutes played and No. 13 in field goal percentage.
"In Sherill and Tasha, you really have two opposites," head coach Andy Landers said. "When the season started, probably a lot of people would have bet that Tasha, who was unanimous a year ago, would be unanimous again. On the other hand, you have another person who wasn't on an All-SEC team a year ago, who is so impressive that she becomes unanimous. It's nice to have two people recognized and thought of so highly."
Baker leads the nation in steals and has rewritten both the Georgia and SEC record books this season. She has set or tied the Lady Bulldog single-game, single-season and career steals records. Baker also has broken the SEC career steals record. She enters post-season play with 126 steals this season and 403 for her career, which ranks No. 15 among the NCAA's all-time leaders.
"I've always said that if you're going to be a great defensive player you have to be unselfish," Landers said. "There's not a lot of glory in it. You've got a lot of kids around the league who do their best defensively, but none of them are going to get mentioned in any articles. Defense is a selfless act. It's something that someone has to take a lot of pride in because it's not going to be the headline in many papers. I think it speaks volumes about Sherill and her unselfishness, as well as her athletic ability and her commitment to play on that end of the floor."
Chambers, a 5-9, junior guard from Elmsford, N.Y., has averaged 11.6 points for game for the Lady Bulldogs. Among SEC statistical leaders, she ranks No. 3 in three-pointers per game, No. 6 in three-point percentage and
No. 17 in scoring.
"It's a great honor for Cori," Landers said. "You're talking about the most competitive league in the country and a league with more good players than any other league in the country. To be recognized by coaches is particularly flattering I think. Hopefully, it will motivate her to do even more. I hope that she isn't satisfied with being second team. You want your players to aspire to be the best and this is a great step for Cori in that progression."
The Lady Bulldogs finished their regular-season schedule with a 20-7 record, a 10-4 mark in SEC play and ranked No. 12 in the nation. Georgia opens play at the SEC Tournament as the No. 3 seed this Friday night at 9:50 p.m. ET. The Lady Dogs will face the winner of Thursday's first-round matchup between No. 6 seed Vanderbilt and No. 11 seed Alabama.