Atlanta Dream guard/forward Angel McCoughtry and guard Armintie Herrington have been named to the 2013 WNBA All-Defensive First Team, while center Erika de Souza was a second-team selection, the league office has announced.
A panel of the WNBA’s 12 head coaches voted on the WNBA All-Defensive Team, selecting First and Second Teams by position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own team. Players earned five points for each First Team vote and three points for a Second Team vote.
McCoughtry, who tallied six First Team votes, earns All-Defensive Team honors for the fourth time, having previously being selected to the First Team in 2010 and 2011, and to the Second Team in 2009. Herrington (six First Team votes) captured First Team honors for the first time after being voted to the All-Defensive Second Team in 2011 and 2012. It is the first All-Defensive Team honor for de Souza.
McCoughtry finished second in the WNBA in steals, averaging a career-best 2.7 per game. She set a Dream single season record with 89 steals this season, and just missed becoming the first player in league history to lead the league in scoring and steals in consecutive seasons. She also ranked second on the team with 24 blocked shots.
Herrington ranked fourth in the league in steals at 2.3 per game. Despite missing six games due to injury, her 65 steals was 13 more than her previous single-season career best. She had multiple steals in 20 of her 28 games and was regularly assigned to guard the opposition’s best perimeter player.
The league leader in double-doubles with 18, de Souza set team single-season records for blocked shots (61) and rebounds (337). She ranked second in the league in defensive rebounds with 247, and had eight games with double figures in defensive rebounds alone.
It marked the fourth consecutive year that the Dream had a player on the All-Defensive First Team, and the fifth straight year that at least two Dream players were on the first or second teams.
Joining McCoughtry and Herrington on the first team were Chicago’s Sylvia Fowles, Indiana’s Tamika Catchings and Seattle’s Tanisha Wright. Others on the second team included Minnesota’s Rebekkah Brunson, Tulsa’s Glory Johnson, Indiana’s Briann January and San Antonio’s Jia Perkins and Danielle Robinson.
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