Parade Magazine picks Spani to All-American second team

Source: The Star

Keith Myers | The Kansas City Star

Against Bishop Miege early in the season, Taber Spani put up 30 points in a losing cause — a typical scoring effort.

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The honors keep rolling in for Metro Academy guard Taber Spani.

Just a couple of weeks after playing in the McDonald’s All-American game, Parade Magazine announced that Spani was one of only 10 players to be selected to its All-American second team.

Spani’s selection to the team, which is picked by coaches, scouts and recruiters across the country, is another in a long list of awards she has received during her career.

Spani, a 6-foot-1 guard bound for Tennessee who won the DiRenna Award in 2008 as the best girls basketball player in the Kansas City area, was a finalist for the award this season after leading Metro to a 29-7 record and a third-place finish in the National Christian Homeschool Basketball Tournament in March.

Spani, ranked by ESPN.com as the nation’s third-best guard and the 13th player overall, averaged 32.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.8 blocks and 2.6 steals per game for the Mavericks this season. She was also chosen the 2009 Kansas Gatorade girls player of the year.

She was selected to represent Kansas in the Hy-Vee/Pepsi All-Star Challenge last Saturday at Avila University. However, she could not play because of her commitment to the McDonald’s All-American game, which was played April 1 in Coral Gables, Fla., and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School All-America Game, which was played April 6 at Washington University in St. Louis.

In the McDonald’s game, she tied for the team high in points with 11 for the West in a 69-68 win. In the coaches’ association game, she scored 10 while helping the Blue team to a 79-77 win over the White team.

submitted by TEREZ A. PAYLOR - 2009-04-16 22:48:02