Kelsey Minato Earns AP All-America Honors

WEST POINT – Army West Point guard Kelsey Minato was selected as an Associated Press honorable mention All-American, the organization announced Monday.

 The senior is the first player in the 39-year history of the Army women’s basketball program to be honored as an AP All-American.

 Minato drew Patriot League Player of the Year honors for the third time in her career earlier this month and became the conference’s first player to be named first-team all-league four times.

 A native of Huntington Beach, Calif., Minato set career scoring marks for Army and the Patriot League after averaging a league-record 23.2 points per game in 2015-16. She finished her career with 2,556 points and led the Black Knights to a 29-3 record and their second Patriot League title and NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons.

 In addition to her AP All-America praise, Minato was recently named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-Region I team for the second time in as many seasons.

 Minato was a WBCA All-America honorable mention choice after the 2014-15 season and now becomes the fourth player in program history to land All-America selections in multiple seasons. Pam Pearson, USMA ‘86 (1984 American Women’s Sports Federation second team, 1985 AWSF second team); Julie Del Giorno, USMA ‘86 (1985 AWSF second team, 1986 AWSF honorable mention); Kim Kawamoto, USMA ‘92 (1991 AWSF fourth team, 1992 AWSF third team).