Falcons' Turner Named First Team All American

Lackawanna College women's basketball standout Nashira Turner has been named a NJCAA Division II First-Team All-American.

Recently, Turner was also named to Region XIX's Division II First Team and selected as the Region's Player of the Year.

Offensively, Turner averaged 13.5 points a game, but it was her outstanding rebounding and defensive skills that impressed coaches and administrators both regionally and nationally.

Her 18.3 rebounds per game ranked her No. 1 in the nation in that statistical category for NJCAA Division II Schools. This average was approximately 3.5 rebounds per game better than her closest competitor. She finished the season with a total of 403 rebounds and 612 for her career. In addition to her rebounding, she recorded 19 steals and 67 blocks shots, an average of 3.1 per game. The latter statistic ranked her 12th in the country. The only opponent that stopped Turner this season was a midseason injury that kept her off the court for two weeks during the middle of the 2009-2010 basketball season.

"I am very excited for Nashira," said Lackawanna Head Women's Basketball coach Kim Yencho. "She is very deserving of this award due to all her hard work this past year. She came out and showed everyone that she is one of the top players in the country. It's not too often you have All-American on your basketball team and I feel Lackawanna was a great stepping stone for Nashira."

Turner is the eighth Lady Falcon to receive this honor. The last was Tiffany Williams in 2003. The first Lackawanna College player to be named First-Team All-American was Felicia Brown in 1984. Ironically, the first player and most recent player to receive this recognition are mother and daughter.