A championship regular season by the Western Kentucky University women's basketball team was recognized on Wednesday as five members of the Lady Topper program were honored by the Sun Belt Conference.

Shala Reese (Sr., Easton, Texas) put a cap on a stellar final season on the Hill by being named the league's Player of the Year, becoming the first Lady Topper since Lillie Mason of Logan County in 1986 to win the award.

Reese, who was the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year in 2002, has compiled 14 double-doubles so far this season. She also ranks second in the league in both scoring (16.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg). Her .575 field goal percentage this season leads the Sun Belt, and her .581 career field goal percentage is on pace to shatter the WKU record.

Reese's season came to a pinnacle in the middle of January whenshe became just the second Lady Topper in history to record back-to-back 30-point games in wins over Denver and North Texas. Along with Player-of-the-Year honors, Reese was also one of ten players named to the all-Sun Belt team.

WKU head coach Mary Taylor Cowles was also honored for a stellar season in her first year at the helm of the Lady Topper program, winning the Sun Belt Coach-of-the-Year award.

Cowles guided her nine-player squad to a 19-8 regular-season record and a Sun Belt East Division Championship.

WKU finished the conference season 12-2, the best mark in the league. After starting the season 5-7, Cowles was able to regroup her troops as the Lady Toppers have won 14 of their last 15 games, and enter the Sun Belt Tournament on an 11-game winning streak.

This marks the first time since 1991 that the Lady Topper coach took the league's top honor. Paul Sanderford won his second coach-of-the-year award in '91 after also taking the honor in 1986.

Lady Topper rookie sensation Tiffany Porter-Talbert (Fr., Manhattan Beach, Calif.) is pacing all Sun Belt freshmen in scoring (12.6 ppg), rebounding (7.8 rpg) and assists (4.0 apg), and was rewarded for her efforts by being named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.

Porter-Talbert has started 26 games as a true freshman, scoring in double figures in 10 of 13 conference games. She posted three double-doubles during the regular season, including one in each of the last two games. She is also averaging a team best 34 minutes of action per game, and is leading Western in free throws made (103) and attempted (152).

Joining Reese on the all-conference squad is fellow two-year starter Leslie Logsdon (Jr., Munfordville). Logsdon leads the conference in scoring with 17.2 points per game, and averaged 18.1 points in conference games.

Lady Topper captain Kristina Covington (Sr., Elizabethtown) also took a postseason honor in her final year at Western, as she was an honorable mention all-conference pick.

One of her coaches at E-town was Lewisburg Principal Paul Mullins.

Western will open the 2003 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., taking on the winner of an opening round game between Arkansas-Little Rock, the fifth seed out of the east division, and North Texas, the four-seed from the west.

The WKU men open tournament play Saturday at 8 p.m. at Diddle.