MILWAUKEE, Wis. (April 30, 2008) - Junior Traci Edwards was named Team MVP for the 2007-08 season the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team announced its team awards last Sunday at its annual post-season banquet.

Edwards received the team's most valuable player honor for the third time, as well as the Top Rebounder Award. Junior Turquoise McCain was named the Best Defensive Player and was awarded with the Nicholas Scholarship. Senior Aubri Rote was honored with the Scholastic Team Award and the award for the highest free throw percentage. Other awards included freshman Jenilee Klomstad as Most Improved, junior Markita Barnes earning the Playmaker Award and junior Katie Fournier as Most Inspirational.

Edwards was named the Horizon League Player of the Year this season and was named to her third-straight all-league first team. She set school records with 639 points and a 20.6 point-per-game scoring average. She was also the first player in league history to lead the league in scoring and rebounding in back-to-back seasons. She pulled down 9.7 rebounds per game for that distinction.

She is the first three-time MVP since Jen Greger from 1995-97. The award has been awarded since 1990-91.

McCain was selected to the Horizon League's All-Defensive team after finishing second on the team in steals, with 34, and rebounding, at 4.1 per game. She has also tallied 6.8 points per game, while starting the first 26 games of the season. McCain suffered a broken toe before the March 1 game at Green Bay and missed the rest of the season.

Rote was the team's second-leading scorer at 9.1 points per game and made a team-best 54 three-pointers. She also finished third on the team in rebounding at 3.8 rpg and second in assist-to-turnover ration at 1.2. She also led the team by shooting 80.6 percent from the free throw line. Rote picked up the Scholastic Team Award for the third-straight year, becoming the first player to do so since the award's inception in 1991. She boasts a 3.925 grade point average as a kinesiology major and was named to the academic all-league team earlier this month.

Klomstad averaged 7.5 points in 15 minutes per game over the last six games of the season. She had played in 10 of the first 25 games of the season for a total of 57 minutes and scoring 13 points. She also shot 76 percent (19-for-25) from the field over the season's final six games to pull her season percentage up to 57.5 percent.

The Playmaker Award goes to the player with the high assist-to-turnover ratio. Barnes finished the season 35 assists compared to just 24 turnovers for a ratio of 1.5. She came on strong late, dishing out 30 assists with just 11 turnovers over the final 10 games. In that time, Barnes averaged 16.3 minutes per game and made all six of her starts.

Fournier played in 25 games this season, starting once. She averaged one point and two rebounds per game, but still finished tied for second on the team with eight blocked shots.

Milwaukee went 17-14 in 2007-08, advancing to the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers lost just two players to graduation and return three starters in Edwards, McCain and sophomore Jodie McClain.