April 22, 2004

Highlighted by head coach Harry Perretta earning Coach of the Year honors, four Villanova Wildcats garnered accolades at the annual Philadelphia Big Five women's basketball banquet held on Wednesday, April 21 at the Penn's Landing Hilton.

Perretta earns the award for the second-straight year after leading his team to a 23-7 overall record, including a second consecutive Big Five title with a 4-0 mark. Over the last four seasons, Perretta has guided Villanova to a 93-33 record, four consecutive 20-win campaigns and four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. In his 26-year Main Line career, Perretta has tallied 20 or more victories in 13 of the 26 years.

Senior guard Courtney Mix and sophomore forward Liad Suez were both named to the All-Big Five first team. Mix, who was also a 2003 first team All-Big Five selection, started all 30 games this past season and led the Wildcats in rebounding (7.0 rpg.), assists (4.3 apg.), steals (1.5 spg.) and assist to turnover ratio at 5.0:1 (130 assists/26 turnovers). In addition, she ranked second on the team in blocks (1.4 bpg.) and third in scoring at 7.7 points per game.

Playing her first season of collegiate basketball, Suez led the Wildcats in scoring with a 13.3 points per game average. Starting all 30 games, Suez made 149-of-330 from the field (45.2%), including a 58-of-153 effort from three-point range (37.9%). Suez also averaged 3.9 rebounds per game and 2.2 assists per contest.

The final Wildcat to earn recognition from the Big Five was senior guard Kelly Nash who was named to the All-Academic Team. After graduating in May, 2003 with an education degree, Nash is currently enrolled in graduate school at Villanova where she is pursuing her master's degree in education. On the court this past season, Nash started all 30 games at shooting guard and led the team in three-point shooting, connecting on 55-of-126 from behind the arc (43.7%).