Kay Yow, the late legendary North Carolina State women’s basketball head coach, and Renee Montgomery, the standout senior guard for the top-ranked Connecticut women’s basketball team, headline this year’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s annual honors.

Yow was chosen as the recipient of the 2009 Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award and Montgomery was chosen as the winner of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, presented annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Yow’s lifelong commitment of service to the game of women’s basketball and the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award honors the nation's outstanding female collegian 5-feet-8-inches and under who has excelled both athletically and academically.

Award recipients will be formally recognized at the WBCA Awards Luncheon on April 7 in St. Louis as part of the WBCA National Convention, which will be held in conjunction with the 2009 Women’s Final Four.

Yow, who passed away in January after a two-decade battle with breast cancer, led North Carolina State to 20 NCAA tournament appearances, 11 trips to the Sweet 16, and one trip to the Elite Eight and the Final Four.  She also is credited with four Atlantic Coast Conference tournament titles and in 2007 became the inaugural winner of the Jimmy V ESPY for Perseverance. Yow was also the first coach to win a gold medal twice in Olympic competition as a head coach in 1984 and 1988.

Yow was as a founding member and past president of the WBCA. After she was diagnosed with cancer, Yow dedicated her life to spreading cancer awareness and raising money for research through initiatives like North Carolina State’s Hoops for Hope and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.

“The Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor awarded by the WBCA and this year on behalf of the WBCA and its members, we are proud to present it to Kay Yow,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass.  “After knowing her for 32 years the impact Coach Yow has had on the Association and myself is immeasurable.  We cannot thank Kay Yow enough for her tireless efforts and service to the game of women’s basketball.”

The 5-foot-7-inch Montgomery, a four-year starter and three-time team captain, is one of only three players in Connecticut history to tally 1,500 points and 500 assists in a career and is the only player in program history to rank in the top-10 in points (1,845), assists (590), steals (251) and three-pointers (233).

For her career, Montgomery has helped the Huskies to a 130-10 ledger that includes a trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four, three NCAA regionals, three Big East regular season titles and two conference tournament championships. She has registered 139 career starts, 132 of which have been consecutive – the most by any player nationally.

Off the court, Montgomery is very involved with the Connecticut Children’s Hospital where she is a frequent visitor, has served with the Salvation Army and aided with their “Holiday Store,” which collects gifts and donations for less fortunate families and was one of the team’s leaders in efforts to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Other honorees include Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw, winner of the Carol Eckman Award, Ivy League senior associate director Carolyn Campbell-McGovern, recipient of the WBCA Administrator of the Year Award, Wingate’s Anna Atkinson and Vanderbilt’s Christina Wirth as the 2009 WBCA Scholarship Award winners and Georgia Tech’s Jacqua Williams as the winner of the Charles T. Stoner Law Scholarship Award. 

Additionally, Duke senior Abby Waner was chosen as the recipient of the WBCA Robin Roberts/WBCA Broadcasting Scholarship Award, Chuck Schoffner of the Associated Press has been named the winner of the 2009 WBCA Mel Greenberg Media Award and Seton Hill’s Clarisse Garcia was selected as the Women’s Sports Foundation/WBCA Graduate Assistant of the Year.