By Antonya English, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Jaterra Bonds of the Florida Gators has been selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team, chosen by the league's women's basketball head coaches and announced today.
This is the third consecutive year a Gator player has earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team. Bonds joins current Gator sophomore Jennifer George as the most recent recipients.
Bonds is Florida's second-leading scorer overall and in SEC games, averaging 8.9 points per game in both, while also ranking second for assists (77) and three-pointers (41).
Bonds is a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week recipient, most recently honored on Feb. 28 for helping UF to a pair of upset wins, including the regular-season finale against No. 22 Georgia (Feb. 27), when she scored a career-high 22 points. She has appeared in every game but one this season, and has 13 starts.
"What I love most about coaching Jaterra has nothing to do with ball handling, or her defense or her ability to score and all those things are great, but it's how she competes," UF head coach Amanda Butler said. "She really wants to compete and win. She's fiery. She wants the biggest defensive challenge. She wants to hit the big shot. Those are things you can't put into a player. Jaterra has that inside of her and that's what you saw from her (in the Feb. 27 win) against Georgia."