WNBA star Tamika Catchings announces female collegiate basketball players honored for community service

theGRIO REPORT - The Women's Basketball Coaches Association has announced the roster of this year's Allstate WBCA Good Works Team...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association has announced the roster of this year’s Allstate WBCA Good Works Team.

The team is comprised of 10 female collegiate basketball players who make significant contributions to their communities.

TheGrio spoke to WNBA star Tamika Catchings, who announced Tuesday the 10 players named to the list.

“We’re really excited about the group that we’ve selected,” the three-time Olympic gold medalist said. “We wanted to put together a program just to be able to honor these young ladies and what they’re doing in the community.”

The 2014 team includes:

“These young ladies that we selected have done great things in their communities, where their universities, their colleges are, back in their hometowns, abroad,” said Catchings. “They’ve done a little bit of everything, so it’s cool to be able to honor these ladies who are not only doing their thing on the court, not only in the classroom, but in the community.”

University of Kentucky senior guard Kastine Evans is being recognized for her work throughout the community surrounding UK’s campus, including volunteering once a week to clean rooms and cook meals at Lexington’s local Ronald McDonald House, helping families of children receiving cancer treatments at Kentucky Children’s Hospital

Courtney Moses of Purdue University has participated in missionary trips around the world as part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, among many other accomplishments off the court.

Loyola University New Orleans’ Jasmine Brewer serves as co-chapter leader of Students for Education Reform Loyola, working to raise awareness about the achievement gap in the New Orleans education system. Brewer has also spent time abroad, volunteering time at sports camps and student teaching.

Shayla Bivins, a senior center for Georgia Tech, participates in multiple Atlanta-based non-profit organizations. A few of her contributions to the community include mentoring students at Bright Futures Academy and organizing visits to Atlanta Ronald McDonald House.

Senior center NeTanya Jones (McNeese State University) is an active member in multiple organizations, including Toys for Tots, Communities Against Domestic Abuse and the Special Olympics.

“I think it’s so important that we realize that there are people that don’t have what we have, and don’t have the opportunity that we have,” Catchings said.

Giving credit to her former coach at the University of Tennessee, Catchings said, “[Community Service] was something that Pat [Summit] stressed big time. We’re not only basketball players. We gotta be great women, great people, and we have to do our duty in the community as well.'”

This year the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) named 10 male collegiate basketball players to the Allstate NABC Good Works Team. Both the men’s and women’s teams were selected using the same criteria.

Members of the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team will be recognized in April during the 2014 WBCA Convention and at the 2014 NCAA Women’s Final Four® in Nashville, where they will participate in a community service project. Members of the Allstate NABC Good Works Team will be recognized the 2014 NABC Convention and 2014 NCAA Men’s Final Four® in North Texas, where they will also participate in a community service project.

TheGrio congratulates all 20 men and women selected for their volunteerism and civil service.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals

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