Pawlaczyk named SLC Student-Athlete of Year

By Carlos Valdez
Assistant Sports Information Director

(April 17, 2009)--UTSA senior forward Ryba Pawlaczyk was named the 2008-2009 Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Women's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday.

The Wroclaw, Poland, native is the second player in program history to receive the award, joining Nicole Dunson, who was honored four years ago.

Pawlaczyk, who maintains a 3.32 grade-point average in biology and clinical lab, helped the Roadrunners win a share of the SLC Regular Season Championship, defend their SLC Tournament title and post a school-record 24 wins this year.

She ranked second in the SLC with 1.7 blocks per game and her 10.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest were third on the team. A two-time Southland Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient, Pawlaczyk was the league's only player to receive second-team ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District VI honors.

She is the second UTSA student-athlete to win SLC Student-Athlete of the Year honors this academic year, as junior Dana Mecke collected the award in both women's cross country and indoor track and field.