FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2013
Regular-season champion Bentley places two on First Team All-Conference
SOUTH EASTON, Mass. –Bianca Simmons, a senior guard from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the nation's leading scorer, was named the 2013 Northeast-10 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year as voted upon by the conference's head coaches, it was announced on Friday.
The league also announced its All-Conference and All-Rookie team selections, as well as the major awards winners for the season.
Simmons helped lead the River Hawks to an 18-8 mark during the regular season, including 15-7 in NE-10 play, and the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Women's Basketball Championship. Her 28.2 points per game leads the nation in all three collegiate divisions, male or female.
Simmons also leads the Northeast-10 Conference in steals with 96 so far the season, and is among the league leaders in a number of offensive categories. Her 5.5 assists per game are third best in the league, while her 7.4 rebounds per game are 13th-best in the NE-10. She also is shooting 48.8% from the floor (10th) and 37.1% (14th) from beyond the arc. The senior was also named to the Northeast-10 First Team.
Southern Connecticut State University's Jackie Beathea was tabbed the Northeast-10 Rookie of the Year, as the first-year forward averaged 15.3 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per contest. Her averages on the season are currently fourth best in both scoring and rebounding.
Beathea was a five time Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week honoree, and she shot 43 percent from the floor during her first year competing in the Northeast-10 Conference. She was remarkably consistent for a first-year player as Beathea scored in double figures in 21 of the 24 games. She was also named to the 2013 NE-10 All-Rookie Team.
Franklin Pierce University's Tiffany Johnson was named the Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year, as voted by the conference's head coaches. Johnson is the second consecutive Ravens' player to earn the award as Johnson's former teammate Marielle Giroud won it each of the last two years.
Johnson helped lead the Ravens to a 17-9 mark, including 14-8 in conference play. Franklin Pierce is the No. 5 seed in the upcoming women's basketball championship, and they will begin play Sunday afternoon as they head to take on Simmons's River Hawks in a Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinal matchup.
Johnson's 79 steals so far this season are currently second best in the league, and her 24 blocked shots is 13th in the NE-10, and she leads Franklin Pierce in each of those categories. Johnson was also named an All-Conference Second Team honoree.
Coach of the Year honors went to Stonehill College's Trisha Brown. Brown led Stonehill to a 23-win regular season, and a 19-3 mark in conference play. The Skyhawks' 23 wins was 10 more then they won a year ago, and their 19 conference wins also was good for a plus-10 margin from the 2011-12 season.
The Skyhawks earned the No. 2 seed in the women's basketball championship, and will take on the winner of the Pace University-Merrimack College first-round game when they begin play in the Championship on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
It is the second time Brown has been named the Northeast-10 Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, as she also earned the award following the 2007-2008 season. Two of Brown's student-athletes were named to All-Conference teams as Mary Louise Dixon was named to the Conference's First Team and Tori Faieta was tabbed for the Second Team.
The Northeast-10 is an association of 16 NCAA Division II colleges and universities located in New England and New York that are committed to supporting balanced academic and athletic opportunities for more than 6,500 student-athletes. Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in Conference championships in 23 sports, making the NE-10 the largest DII conference in the country. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the Northeast-10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
2012-2013 Northeast-10 Conference
Women's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team Year Position School Hometown
Gabrielle Gibson Senior Guard Assumption Amityville, N.Y.
Lauren Battista Junior Forward Bentley North Easton, Mass.
Courtney Finn Senior Guard Bentley Winthrop, Mass.
Bianca Simmons Senior Guard UMass Lowell Middletown, Conn.
Mary Louise Dixon Junior Guard Stonehill Wellesley, Mass.
Second Team Year Position School Hometown
Jessica Kitrys Junior Forward Adelphi Parlin, N.J.
Katy Howard Senior Guard Assumption Medway, Mass.
Tiffany Johnson Senior Forward Franklin Pierce St. Albans, Vt.
Brittany Shields Graduate Forward Pace Cold Spring, N.Y.
Tori Faieta Sophomore Forward Stonehill Lynn, Mass.
Third Team Year Position School Hometown
Sade Jackson Junior Guard Adelphi Hackensack, N.J.
Jacqui Brugliera Junior Forward Bentley Fitchburg, Mass.
Kelly Schatzlein Senior Forward Merrimack Tolland, Conn.
Anh-Dao Tran Junior Guard New Haven Webster, Mass.
Sloane Sorrell Senior Forward So. New Hampshire Berwick, Maine
All-Rookie Position Team School Hometown
Sydney Tepley Center American Int'l Racine, Wisc.
Jane White Guard Bentley Amherst, N.H.
Kara Charette Guard / Forward Franklin Pierce Fairhaven, Mass.
Briana Bradford Forward New Haven Waterbury, Conn.
Nicole Bini Guard Saint Rose Rochester, N.Y.
Jackie Beathea Forward So. Connecticut Annandale, Va.
Player of the Year - Bianca Simmons, UMass Lowell
Rookie of the Year - Jackie Beathea, So. Connecticut
Defensive Player of the Year - Tiffany Johnson, Franklin Pierce
Coach of the Year - Trisha Brown, Stonehill
- #NE10 -
