University of Evansville women’s basketball player Rebekah Parker (Silver Lake, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) and men’s swimmer Phil Lubbehusen (Jasper, Ind./Jasper) have been honored for their work both in and out of the classroom today, as they have been selected as UE’s top scholar-athletes.
Parker was chosen as the recipient of the Lois D. Patton Award, given annually to UE’s top senior female scholar-athlete, while Lubbehusen garnered the male counterpart award, the Ralph H. Coleman Award. Voting was done by the UE coaching staff.
Parker concluded one of the best playing careers in UE women’s basketball history this year, earning first team all-Missouri Valley Conference honors, as well as Lowe’s Senior All-America first team and Division I-AAA Scholar-Athlete team honors. Parker leaves UE as the only basketball player in school history, male or female, to record over 1,400 career points, 600 career rebounds, 400 career assists, and 175 career steals. She helped Evansville to a share of its first MVC regular-season title, a 21-12 overall record and a second-round showing in the 2008 Postseason WNIT this past year by averaging a team-best 14.5 points per game, while ranking among the MVC’s leaders in nine different statistical categories.
Academically, Parker earned first team MVC Scholar-Athlete team honors and second team Academic All-District V honors from CoSIDA for the second year in a row this past year. Parker graduated from UE last month with a degree in physical education and health, while boasting a cumulative grade point average above 3.6.
Lubbehusen earned UE’s Ralph H. Coleman Award after being one of the swimming program’s best both in the classroom and in the pool over the last four years. Athletically, he has been one of the program’s best swimmers in both the breaststroke and sprint freestyle events. Lubbehusen finished sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke at the 2006 MVC Championships, while picking up various individual titles in both the sprint freestyle and breaststroke events over the last four years. He has also been a key member of UE’s 400-yard medley relay team.
Academically, Lubbehusen has been a mainstay on the UE Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll for maintaining a grade point average above 3.5. He has also served as the president of UE’s Order of Omega greek honor society and the communications director for UE’s Mortar Board. Lubbehusen graduated from UE with degrees in both mass communications and business administration-finance this past May, while carrying a grade point average of 3.75.
