Oct. 30, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford forward and 2012 All-American Chiney Ogwumike earned yet another honor ahead of the upcoming 2012-13 season, being named to the six-woman Associated Press Preseason All-America Team.

Ogwumike, a junior from Cypress, Texas, joins Elena Delle Donne (Delaware), Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame), Brittney Griner (Baylor), Odyssey Sims (Baylor) and Alyssa Thomas (Maryland) on the team.

Sims and Thomas each earned 19 votes out of 40 to tie for the fifth spot on the team. Ogwumike earned 23 while Delle Donne, Diggins and Griner were all unanimous selections.

It is the fourth straight year, and fifth time in the past six years, in which Stanford has been represented on the AP's Preseason All-America Team. Chiney Ogwumike follows older sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2010-11, 2011-12), Jayne Appel (2009-10) and Candice Wiggins (2007-08) as preseason All-Americans during that span.

Ogwumike, who was also named to the 25-woman Preseason Wade Watch List for the Wade Trophy back in September, enters this season following a sophomore campaign in which she was named to the WBCA Coaches' All-America Team and Associated Press All-America Second Team as well as a finalist for the Wade Trophy and the WBCA's Defensive Player of the Year award. She averaged 15.0 points and 10.1 rebounds a game, in addition to ranking fourth nationally with a 58.3 field-goal percentage. Her scoring and rebounding averages made her, along with her older sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike (22.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg), one of just five Cardinal players to average a double-double in a single season, joining Nicole Powell (2003-04), Jeanne Ruark (1979-80) and Kathy Murphy (1977-78).

On the defensive end, her 45 blocks, 28 steals and all-around relentless defense against some of the top players in the country and the Pac-12 earned Ogwumike the first Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award of her career in addition to selection to the All-Pac-12 Team.

Entering this season Ogwumike is 35 points away from becoming the 33rd member of Stanford's 1,000-Point Club. She spent this past summer winning her third FIBA gold medal with USA Basketball, teaming up with Diggins, Connecticut's Bria Hartley and Ann Strother at the inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championship in Athens, Greece. The quartet captured the gold with a thrilling 17-16 victory over France in the final.

Ogwumike and the Cardinal, ranked fourth in the Associated Press Preseason Poll, takes on Corban University and Vanguard University this Thursday and Saturday, respectively, in exhibition contests. Stanford officially tips off the 2012-13 season Nov. 9, looking to extend its national-best 79-game home winning streak against Fresno State.

Stanford, 12-time defending Pac-12 champion, will first take on a non-conference slate that includes games against No. 1 Baylor (Nov. 16 in Honolulu), at No. 20 Tennessee (Dec. 22), home against No. 2 Connecticut (Dec. 29) and a home-and-home against No. 13 California (Jan. 8 and 13). Pac-12 play, in which Stanford has won 78 straight against conference opposition, begins Jan. 4 at Colorado.