ASU Women¹s Assistant Coach Tate to Be Inducted Into Arkansas Sp - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

ASU Women¹s Assistant Coach Tate to Be Inducted Into Arkansas Sports HOF

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JONESBORO, Ark. (ASU) – Sonja Tate, a current Arkansas State assistant women's basketball coach and a former ASU player, has been selected as a part of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Class for 2013.

Tate, who played at A-State from 1989-93, is arguably one of the best basketball players to ever put on an Arkansas State uniform. She remains the leader in six statistical categories and scored 2,312 points in her career, the most of any men's or women's basketball player in school history.

"I am extremely excited and honored to receive such recognition," Tate said. "I was truly surprised when I found out about the news and I am touched that the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame choose me to be apart of the Class of 2013. I am also honored to be the first Arkansas State women's basketball to be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame."

She set the single-season scoring record at ASU with 820 points during the 1992-93 season and owns the top-five single game scoring performances in school history.  She remains the only ASU women's player to have scored 40 or more points in a single game, a feat she accomplished five times, including a 50-point performance against Louisiana-Lafayette during the 1992-93 season. Tate connected on 95 three-pointers during the 1992-93 season, an ASU record that still stands. She pulled down 327 rebounds that season, the most of any player in a single season.

The West Memphis, Ark., native is third on the all-time career rebounding charts at ASU with 1,006 and is the career leader in steals with 402. She owns the top-two single-season steals records with 125 during the 1992-93 season in 114 swipes during the 1991-92 campaign.

Tate also remains the only player in ASU history to record a quadruple double, finishing with 29 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in an 86-59 victory at Mississippi Valley State Jan. 27, 1993.  Later that season, she led A-State to a 67-54 win over SMU and earned MVP honors in the National Women's Invitation Tournament.

Following her freshman season, she was named Co-Newcomer of the Year in the American South Conference.  She earned All-American South Conference honors as a sophomore and All-Sun Belt Conference honors as a junior and a senior.  Prior to her senior season, she was named preseason first-team All-America by Dick Vitale's Basketball Magazine and following the season was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and a Kodak All-American.

She was also an All-American track and field athlete while at ASU, and remains in the top-10 in ASU history in six events.  She set the school record in the heptathlon in 1994 with 5,247 points, a mark that remains at No. 2 today.

The former guard was inducted into the ASU Hall of Honor in 2004, two years after finishing her WNBA career with the Minnesota Lynx, where she was a three-year starter.  During her time with the Lynx, she led the team in minutes played, assists and steals and was among the top-three rebounders on the team.  She also played professionally in France, Russia, Spain, and with the American Basketball League.

Tate, who will be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame with seven others, will be honored on March 8 when the Class of 2013 is enshrined during the organization's annual induction banquet at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.