The 2011-2012 Big West women’s basketball specialty awards were announced today, with UC Riverside’s Tre’Shonti Nottingham swiping the Defensive Player of the Year, No. 1 seed Cal Poly’s Jonae Ervin receiving Best Hustle Player of the Year and Co-Best Sixth Players of the Year, Violet Alama of Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara’s Nicole Nesbit.  The Big West’s nine head coaches voted on the awards, where they were not allowed to vote for their own players.

Junior Nottingham, Moreno Valley native was the defensive leader for the Highlanders in their shortened season that ended last week in a four-point overtime loss.  The quick 5-5 guard led the conference in steals with a total 78 on the season, averaging 3.25 per game.  She also holds the 8th spot in all-time career assists (183) in Riverside’s program history.  The All-Big West Second-Team Selection started the season with a season-high seven steals in the 20-point loss (46-66) to Arizona State, continuing to record five more games with five or more steals. Nottingham played a conference-high 818 minutes this season, despite her five games missed, averaging 34.08 minutes of the 40 minutes played on the floor in a given night.  This is Riverside’s second recognition in the category, the last Kemie Nkele in the 2008-2009 season where the Highlanders continued on in post-season to make it to the conference tournament semifinals and got a first round pick in the WNIT.

In a tight race, both Northridge’s Alama and Santa Barbara’s Nesbit came in with Best Sixth Player of the Year recognition.  Returning junior for the Matadors, Alma contributed in all 29 games this season with seven starts, averaging 7.1 points and 6 rebounds a night.  The Honolulu, Hawaii native posted her season-high 19 points in a devastating overtime loss to UC Davis on January 12, going 6-for-14 from the floor while making 7-of-8 from the line in her 30 minutes of play. This is the first-co honor for Northridge and third all-time Sixth Player of the Year award.  Sharing competitor, Nesbit is in her second-year with the Gauchos averaging 23.7 minutes in her 23 appearances for Santa Barbara this season on the hardwood, with two starts.  Nesbit averages 8.3 points per game and 2.4 assists.  In 12 of the 23 games played by the Northridge native, she posted double-figures for the Gauchos, her season-best 15 points in a 61-52 victory over St. Mary’s in non-conference play, where she shot 4-of-8 from the field and went 2-for-3 from the arc. The 2011-2012 All-Conference Honorable Mention team candidates are both the second players in their programs to receive Big West Sixth Player of the Year honors.

Ervin showed the conference coaches that going out and playing hard was the one thing on her mind, nabbing the Hustle Player of the Year.  The second-year Mustang from Brea, Calif. played in all 29 games, starting 20 of those contests.  Ervin came out strong posting her career-best 33 points scored in the first matchup of the season against Oregon, where the Mustangs fell short 102-93.  She was in the top three this season averaging 8.2 points per game with 2.8 boards per game and a team-high 3.8 assists.  Ervin holds the No. 1 spot for assists turnover ratio (3.25), both in conference and in NCAA DIV I standings.  Posting both offensive and defensive talent, the 5-3 guard has proved her position in the Mustangs line-up is important to achieving the Big West title.  Ervin has also claimed her second-consecutive year being named to the 2011-2012 All-Conference Honorable Mention team