BINGHAMTON, N.Y. ? Stony Brook’s Mykeema Ford (Trenton, N.J./Cheshire Academy) earns the conference’s top honor as America East Women’s Basketball Player of the Year. The senior guard highlighted the award winners at the league’s annual awards brunch held at Binghamton University’s Events Center on Thursday morning.
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Hartford’s Jennifer Rizzotti was also honored as the 2006-07 America East Coach of the Year, while Vermont’s Courtnay Pilypaitis (Orleans, Ontario/St. Peter’s) was a unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year honors and Whitney Edwards (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Trinity Catholic (Conn.)) of New Hampshire took home Defensive Player of the Year accolades.
New Hampshire’s Danielle Clark (Corinna, Maine/Nokomis Regional) was recognized as the America East Player of the Game for the 2006-07 season after receiving the most post-game recognitions during the regular-season campaign. Boston University’s Katie Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep) took home the inaugural Fans’ Choice Player of the Year award as she received over a third of the more than 6,500 votes cast online through www.AmericaEast.com. Both Clark and Meinhardt were also members of the all-conference second team.
Ford becomes the first player in Stony Brook history to capture the conference’s top honor in women’s basketball. She is a two-time first-team all-conference selection, was a second-teamer in her sophomore season and an all-rookie team selection as a freshman. She owns the second-longest double digit scoring streak in the nation posting double figures in 38 straight games. She leads the conference in scoring (19.2 ppg) and ranks in the top five in assists (fifth - 3.93 apg), steals (fourth - 2.07 spg) and assist/turnover ratio (fourth - 1.49). She garner player of the week honors seven times in her career including four times this season. Earlier this season, she became just the 25th player in America East history to score over 1,500 points.
In her eighth season at the helm of the Hawks, Rizzotti earns her second-consecutive coach of the year award. She helped lead Hartford to a second-straight regular-season title, the first two in program history, and hope to earn the league’s title and automatic bid for the third-straight season. Despite the loss of both the player and rookie of the year from a year ago, the Rizzotti-led Hawks continued to rule America East with an iron fist. The Hawks rattled off 13-straight wins to close out the regular season 15-1 in league play. Overall, Hartford has won 24-straight over America East foes at Chase Arena.
Pilypaitis’ selection as Rookie of the Year marks the third time in conference history that the Catamounts have boasted the league’s top freshman. The 6-0 guard, who was a unanimous selection by the conference’s head coaches, won the rookie of the week award seven times in the first 11 weeks of the season, including five weeks in a row. She helped guide Vermont, who was picked eighth in the preseason poll, to 18 wins and the third seed in the upcoming conference championship. She ranks in the top-10 in the league in scoring (eighth, 13.2 ppg), assists (third, 4.01 apg) and steals (fifth, 79.8 percent), leading all freshmen in all three catagories. The freshman guard was also named to the all-conference third team.
Edwards has been the key component to the Wildcats success on the defensive end of the floor this season as she often draws the task of defending the opponents’ top player. The well-rounded senior leads the conference in steals (2.54 spg) and assists (4.54 apg) and helped New Hampshire limit opponents to just 61.8 ppg.
Joining Ford on the all-conference first team is teammate Jessica Smith (Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler), Hartford’s Danielle Hood (Cortlandt Manor, N.J./Walter Panas) and Ikea Witt (Vineland, N.J./Sacred Heart) and Maine’s Bracey Barker (Bar Harbor, Maine/Mount Desert Island). Ford, Smith, Hood and Barker were all unanimous selections.
Clark and Meinhardt are joined on the second team by Binghamton’s Laura Sario (Espoo, Finland/Etela Tapiolanlukio), Maine’s Ashley Underwood (Augusta, Maine/Cony) of Maine and Sharri Rohde (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) of UMBC.
Joining Pilypaitis on the third team is fellow freshman standout Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) of Hartford, Binghamton’s Laine Kurpniece (Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary School 47) and Stony Brook’s Leah Getz (Peninsula, Ohio/Southhampton College) and Dana Ferraro (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex).
One of the most talented freshman classes in recent memory makes up a stellar all-rookie squad that included four unanimous selections. Pilypaitis and Delva are joined by Boston University’s Aly Hinton (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock), New Hampshire’s Amy Simpson (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) and Vermont’s May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate Institute).
Edwards anchors the all-defensive team and is joined by multiple honorees, Kotsopoulos, Smith and Rohde. Albany’s Gia Sanders (Bowie, Md./ The Bullis School) rounds out the all-defensive team in just its second year of existance. Edwards was a member of the first two all-defensive teams in conference history.
All of the annual award winners will be in action at the 2007 America East Women’s Basketball Championship at Binghamton University’s Events Center beginning tonight with first round action at 7 p.m.
2006-07 America East Women’s Basketball Annual Award Winners
First Team
Danielle Hood* Jr. F Hartford Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas
Ikea Witt Sr. G Hartford Vineland, N.J./Sacred Heart
Bracey Barker* Sr. F Maine Bar Harbor, Maine/Mount Desert Island
Mykeema Ford* Sr. G Stony Brook Trenton, N.J/Cheshire Academy
Jessica Smith* Sr. F Stony Brook Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler
Second Team
Laura Sario Jr. G Binghamton Espoo, Finland/Etela Tapiolanlukio
Katie Meinhardt Sr. G Boston U. San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep
Ashley Underwood Sr. G Maine Augusta, Maine/Cony
Sharri Rohde Sr. F UMBC Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central
Danielle Clark Sr. F New Hampshire Corinna, Maine/Nokomis Regional
Third Team
Laine Kurpniece Jr. F Binghamton Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary School 47
Diana Delva Fr. F Hartford Stamford, Conn./Westhill
Dana Ferraro Jr. F Stony Brook Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex
Leah Getz Sr. G Stony Brook Peninsula, Ohio/Southhampton College
Courtnay Pilypaitis Fr. G Vermont Orleans, Ontario/St. Peter’s
All-Rookie
Aly Hinton* Fr. F Boston U. Richboro, Pa./Council Rock
Diana Delva* Fr. F Hartford Stamford, Conn./Westhill
Amy Simpson Fr. G New Hampshire Waterford, Conn./Waterford
May Kotsopoulos* Fr. G Vermont Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate Institute
Courtnay Pilypaitis* Fr. G Vermont Orleans, Ontario/St. Peter’s
All-Defensive
Gia Sanders Jr. F Albany Bowie, Md./The Bullis School
Whitney Edwards* Sr. G New Hampshire Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Trinity Catholic (Conn.)
Sharri Rohde Sr. F UMBC Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central
Jessica Smith* Sr. F Stony Brook Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler
May Kotsopoulos Fr. G Vermont Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate Institute
All-Academic Team
Katie Meinhardt Sr. G Boston U. San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep
Bracey Barker Sr. F Maine Bar Harbor, Maine/Mount Desert Island
Ashley Underwood Sr. G Maine Augusta, Maine/Cony
Jessica Smith Sr. F Stony Brook Bloomingdale, N.J./Butler
Danielle Clark Sr. F New Hampshire Corinna, Maine/Nokomis Regional
Coach of the Year
Jennifer Rizzotti, Hartford
Rookie of the Year
Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont*
Defensive Player of the Year
Whitney Edwards, New Hampshire
2006-07 America East Player of the Game
Danielle Clark, New Hampshire
Fans’ Choice Player of the Year
Katie Meinhardt, Boston U.
Player of the Year
Mykeema Ford, Stony Brook
* - unanimous selection