SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Julie Brase addresses the McKale Center crowd as Krista Warren looks on after Saturday's victory over Cal.

The Wildcats held their annual year-end banquet over the weekend and handed out several individual awards. Shawntinice Polk and Dee-Dee Wheeler were named co-Most Valuable Players. Polk also took home three more awards as the team's Defensive MVP, Rebounding Leader Award and Freshman of the Year.

Senior forward Krista Warren was second on the team with two awards, receiving the Most Improved Player and also the Academic Achievement Award for having the highest grade point average on the team.

Another senior also pulled in two awards; guard Julie Brase earned the team's Free Throw Percentage Award and the Assist Leader Award.

Two freshmen guards earned the team's final two awards as Natalie Jones and Katrina Lindner earned the Hustle Award and the Most Inspirational Player Award, respectively.

Denise Dove Ianello Assistant Head Coach

Ianello leaving UA after postseason

The women's basketball team saw its share of good news over the past weekend but was the recipient of a little bad news as well.

The good news: The team swept the Bay Area schools and finished tied for second place in the Pacific-10 Conference öö matching the team's best finish in the program's history öö and earned the Wildcats the third seed in this week's Pac-10 tournament.

The bad news: Assistant head coach Denise Dove Ianello informed the team that she would be leaving after the season.

"I love Arizona," said Dove Ianello. "I am very sad that I am leaving."

Dove Ianello informed the team Friday that, after the season, she would be moving to Wisconsin with her husband, former UA football assistant coach Rob Ianello, who accepted the tight end coach's job with the Badgers.

The good news for Dove Ianello is that the head coaching spot for the women's basketball squad at Wisconsin is vacant and there is a possibility that she could land the position, but that is something that she said hasn't even crossed her mind.

"I'm not even thinking about that right now," said Dove Ianello. "I'm just focusing on Arizona, and everything is about the Pac-10 Tournament and Oregon State."

Dove Ianello is in her 11th season with the program and has had a major influence on the Wildcats' recruiting over her tenure.

Team jumps two spots in latest poll

With the Wildcats' upset win over No. 9 Stanford last week, Arizona moved up two spots in the AP Top 25 Poll. UA is now ranked No. 22 and is one of three Pac-10 teams in the poll. Stanford stayed in the No. 9 spot even with its loss to the Wildcats and Washington remained at No. 25 after beating rival Washington State Saturday.

This is just the second week all season that three Pac-10 teams have been in the top 25, and before last week, it had not happened since November of 2001.