St. Louis — Ruth Riley and Muffet McGraw, who led Notre Dame to its first No. 1 ranking and second Final Four, won The Associated Press player and coach of the year awards in women's basketball.
Riley, a 6-foot-5 senior, edged Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles for the player of the year award. She became the first player from a school other than Connecticut or Tennessee to receive the AP honor, which was started in 1995.
McGraw, in her 14th season at Notre Dame, was an overwhelming choice as the coach of the year. Both awards, announced Thursday, were determined in voting by AP member newspapers nationwide.
Riley received 30 votes, Stiles 26. Last year's winner, Tennessee's Tamika Catchings, had 19 votes. Catchings injured her knee Jan. 15, and missed the rest of this season.
McGraw received 60 votes for the coaching award. Tennessee's Pat Summitt was next with 12.
The AP award is the latest in a string of honors for Riley, the only unanimous selection on this season's All-America team and also an academic All-American with a 3.64 grade-point average.
Her averages on the court also are impressive: 18.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and three blocks. Riley is shooting 63 percent from the field.
With Riley leading the way, Notre Dame started 23-0 and in mid-January broke Connecticut's 30-game winning streak. A week later, the Irish became No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time.
Now 32-2, Notre Dame will play Connecticut in the national semifinals Friday night.
McGraw has led Notre Dame to the NCAA Tournament eight of the last 10 years and took the Irish to the Final Four for the first time in 1997. She's 320-117 at Notre Dame and 408-158 in 19 seasons overall, including five at Lehigh.
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