HARTFORD, Conn. -- All five women’s basketball players who earned all-conference first-team recognition after the 2010-11 season return in 2011-12 as America East Preseason All-Conference Team members. The league’s nine head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players, determined the preseason all-conference team. The conference office announced the awards at the annual America East Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon on Thursday, October 13 at the Connecticut State Capitol Building.
The reigning America East Player of the Year, Boston University junior guard Chantell Alford, headlines the preseason squad as a unanimous pick. The 2011 Defensive Player of the Year, University at Albany junior guard/forward Ebone Henry, and UMBC senior guard Michelle Kurowski also received all eight possible first-place votes. Binghamton University senior guard Andrea Holmes and UMBC senior forward Erin Brown round out the honorees.
This season marks the first since 1996-97 that all five preseason all-conference team members had also received first-team all-conference honors the previous year. This year’s five players represent five of 2010-11’s top six scorers in the conference.
Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) has had an impressive career thus far, following up her 2009-10 Rookie of the Year campaign with Player of the Year recognition in 2011. Likely to reach the 1,000 career point milestone early this season, the junior has a career scoring average of 14.9 points per game to go along with 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Alford led the Terriers to the 2010 America East Championship semifinals and to the 2011 title game, pacing the team in scoring in each of those seasons, including a league-best 15.0 points per game last year.
Henry (San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic) proved to be one of the toughest defenders in the league last season, swiping 2.6 steals per game as well as the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Great Dane can also score though, pacing the team and ranking third in America East with 14.4 points per game. Adding 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, Henry earned first-team all-conference honors for the first time in her career a year ago.
Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) has been a prolific scorer during her first three years, currently sitting at 1,263 career points entering her senior season. Last season, she ranked second in the league only to Alford with 14.6 points per game, shooting at a 40.2 field-goal percentage. Kurowski led the Retrievers to the regular-season championship last year and earned her first America East all-conference recognition. She is the top returning scorer and ball distributer (2.7 assists per game) for the preseason favorites this season.
Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) missed the final three games last season, but still finished with a team-high 400 points (14.3 ppg) and 92 assists (3.3 apg). In America East, she ranked fourth in three-pointers per game (1.8), sixth in scoring and steals (1.9 spg), and seventh in assists. Holmes is a consistent threat on the court for the Bearcats, leading the league with 38.9 minutes per game last year.
Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) is the only post player and the second Retriever on the preseason team. She led the team with 6.0 rebounds per game and ranked second only behind Kurowski with 14.3 points per game. As a forward, Brown also shows great range, averaging 2.1 three-point field goals per game, second in the league, with 32.8 percent shooting accuracy. If she continues anywhere near her career average of 10.1 ppg, Brown is also likely to reach 1,000 career points within the season’s first couple of months.