July 23, 2015
San Jose, Calif. - As a topper to the greatest women's basketball career in San José State University history, and arguably the greatest basketball career for any Spartan, Ta'Rea Cunnigan is a Mountain West Conference 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year Award honorees. The announcement came for the NCAA office in Indianapolis, Ind.
A Magna Cum Laude graduate in May 2015 and the schools all-time scoring leader with 2,062 career points, Cunnigan is among the 147 NCAA female student-athletes representing multiple sports across NCAA Divisions I, II and III.
A psychology major from Winchester, Calif., who graduated with a 3.70 cumulative grade-point average, Cunnigan is the second San José State University female student-athlete to nominated for this honor. She follows swimmer Darcie Anderson who represented San José State and the Mountain West last year.
Now in its 25th year, the Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
A four-time team captain, Cunnigan's volunteer activities while at San José State included the Nice Play Youth Leadership Basketball Program, the Silicon Valley Heart and Stroke Walk, the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative (BAWSI) and she mentored and coached area youth.
During the 2015-16 school year, she was named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District VIII first-team, was an Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar, and earned Dean's List honors. It was the second time in her four-year career that she earned each of those honors. In addition, Cunnigan is a four-time academic all-conference and four-time San José State Sports Scholar and a two-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete.
Cunnigan is one of 31 conference nominees who competed in women's basketball, the most represented sport among the 147 nominees. By division, 57 honorees competed in Division I, 39 competed in Division II, and 51 in Division III.
The Woman of the Year selection committee will choose the top 10 student-athletes in each division from this pool to be recognized. The top-30 will be announced in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September.
The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be honored, and the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 18.