BOSTON - Five seniors and one junior from five different America East teams are featured on the 2016-17 Women's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team, the conference office announced Wednesday. The team was determined by a vote of the league's nine head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes.
University at Albany's Imani Tate, University of Maine's Sigi Koizar and UMBC's Taylor McCarley highlight the group after earning First Team All-Conference selections last season. Binghamton earned its first preseason selection since 2012 in Imani Watkins, who is also the lone junior on the team. Pandora Wilson joined fellow Retriever, McCarley, as the only set of teammates to earn selections. Hartford guard Deanna Mayza rounds out the team as she returns to the court after missing 11 games down the stretch last year with an injury. Read more about the six selections:
Imani Tate, Sr., Albany
- The two-time All-Conference First Team honoree is the conference's leading returning scorer after averaging 18.3 points per game last year.
- Also an All-Defensive Team honoree last year, she led the league with 103 steals, the seventh-most in a single season in conference history.
- Tate also averaged 5.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 48-percent from the floor.
Imani Watkins, Jr., Binghamton
- The lone junior to earn in a selection, Watkins was an All-Conference Second Team honoree last year.
- She ranked fifth in the league in scoring at 16.0 points per game.
- Watkins is the first Bearcat since 2012 to earn a spot on the Preseason All-Conference Team.
Deanna Mayza, Sr., Hartford
- Prior to missing 11 games with a shoulder injury, Mayza was leading the Hawks in scoring, minutes and assists last season.
- She enters the season fourth on Hartford's all-time assists list.
- Mayza was a member of the All-Conference Third Team in 2014-15.
Sigi Koizar, Sr., Maine
- A two-time America East All-Conference First Team selection, Koizar ranked third in the league in scoring at 17.7 points per game.
- She ranked in the top-10 in the conference in nine different statistical categories.
- Finished ninth in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at 43.4 percent.
Taylor McCarley, Sr., UMBC
- One of two Retrievers selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.
- Earned selections to the All-Conference First Team and All-Defensive Teams as a junior last year.
- She ranked sixth in the league in scoring at 15.0 points per game, second in assists at 5.1 assists per game and third in steals at 2.5 steals per game.
Pandora Wilson, Sr., UMBC
- Established herself as one of the best forwards in the league last year, averaging 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
- Selected to the All-Conference Second Team as a junior.
- Joins Taylor McCarley as the only set of teammates on the Preseason All-Conference Team, marking the first time since 2011-12 that UMBC has earned two selections.
The 2016-17 America East women's basketball preseason poll will be announced on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 11 a.m.