USA TODAY and HighSchoolSports.net Announce 2012 All-USA Girls' Basketball Team

Curtis Ekmark of national number one St. Mary's (Phoenix, AZ) Named Coach of the Year; Player of the Year Breanna Stewart (Cicero-North Syracuse, NY) one of three UConn-bound seniors named to All-USA First Team

MCLEAN, Va., April 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY and HighSchoolSports.net today unveiled the 2012 All-USA girls' high school basketball team, highlighting the best high school players in the USA during the 2011-2012 season.

Curtis Ekmark, who guided St. Mary's of Phoenix, AZ to a 30-0 record and the number one spot in the USA TODAY Super 25 rankings, is the national Coach of the Year.

Breanna Stewart of New York's Cicero-North Syracuse, a 6-3 center who averaged 24.2 points, 14 rebounds and four assists per game to lead her school to its second straight state championship, is the national Player of the Year.

Stewart is one of three University of Connecticut-bound seniors on this year's All-USA first team. She's joined by 6-2 forward Morgan Tuck of Bolingbrook (IL), who averaged 29 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game this season, as well as home-schooled 5-7 guard Moriah Jefferson of Glenn Heights, TX, who averaged more than 17 points and five steals per game to lead her Texas Home Educators' Sports Association team to a 41-6 record and the National Christian Homeschool Championship.

The full All-USA teams (first, second and third teams) appear in today's print edition of USA TODAY and are also available online at www.highschoolsports.net. The All-USA Team and its year-end player and coach awards have been given out annually since 1983 and are considered the highest such honors in high school basketball. Past player of the year honorees include several of the most accomplished players in women's basketball history, including Dawn Staley (Dobbins Tech of Philadelphia in 1988), Lisa Leslie (Morningside HS in Inglewood, CA in 1990) and Maya Moore (Collins Hill HS in Suwanee, GA in 2007).

Joining Stewart, Tuck and Jefferson on the All-USA first team are Alexis Jones of MacArthur (Irving, TX), a Duke-bound guard who averaged 25.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game this season, and Tennessee signee forward Bashaara Graves of Clarksville (TN), who averaged more than 21 points and 11 rebounds per game while leading Clarksville to a 37-1 record and the state AAA semifinals.

For more information on the All-USA team, visit www.highschoolsports.net. Following is the complete listing of this year's All-USA First Team, as determined by USA TODAY and HighSchoolSports.net.

2012 USA TODAY and HighSchoolSports.net
All-USA Girls' Basketball Team

Coach of the Year: Curtis Ekmark, St. Mary's HS (Phoenix, AZ)

All-USA First Team

All-USA Second Team

All-USA Third Team

The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY, as well as Gannett Co. Inc.'s 81 community newspaper properties and 23 broadcast television stations. It also includes the sports photography service U.S. Presswire, the Big Lead Sports digital properties, HighSchoolSports.net, BNQT.com and MMAjunkie.com. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

SOURCE USA TODAY

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