March 3, 2010

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass freshman center Jasmine Watson has been selected as the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Rookie of the Year, the conference announced on Wednesday following a vote of the league's 14 head coaches. Watson is just the third Minutewoman to capture the award as Octavia Thomas was named Rookie of the Year in 1992-93 and Jeanine Michaelson was tabbed Freshman of the Year in 1986-87.

Watson earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team, as well, marking the second consecutive year a UMass player has garnered the recognition as current sophomore Kristina Danella was named an all-rookie selection last season.

Watson completed the regular season as the Minutewomen's leading rebounder with an average of 5.8 per-game, while ranking second in scoring behind Danella with 10.3 points per-game, tops among all rookies in the conference.

Just one block shy of breaking into the UMass top-10 for a single season, Watson has 38 blocks on the year to rank fifth in the A-10 with an average of 1.3 per-contest. She also sits 11th in the conference with a 44.7% (113-253) field goal percentage.

On March 1, Watson captured her school record-tying fourth A-10 Rookie of the Week accolade and also earned the recognition on Jan. 18, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22. She was tabbed UMass Athlete of the Week on Feb. 8, as well.

Watson, who has played in all 29 games thus far, earned her first collegiate start on Jan. 16 against Harvard, the first of 15 straight. Against the Crimson, she posted her first of two double-doubles on the year with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Watson has logged 10 or more points in 16 games this season, reaching the 20-point plateau twice, including a season-best 21 against Fordham on Feb. 6.

In Atlantic 10 play, Watson finished 10th in the league in scoring with a team-leading 13.0 points per-game She averaged 6.8 rebounds and had 21 blocks, and 15 steals in those 14 contests, as well.