ECAC Upstate Women’s Basketball All-Stars
The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) announced its 2014-15 ECAC Division III Upstate Women's Basketball All-Stars.
Mary Kate Cusak of St. John Fisher and Kaitlyn Astel of Stevens Institute of Technology were named to the All-Star first team, while Ali Ricchiuti of Ithaca College and Nazareth College's Lindsey Kelly earned second team accolades.
Cusack receives recognition after averaging 17.4 points per game. She eclipsed the 1,000 point mark for her career, becoming the 22nd player in Fisher history to do so. The feisty defender led the Empire 8 in steals per game at 3.2, while connecting on 39.1 percent of her field goals from 3-point land. Cusack also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Astel junior led the Ducks with 16.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, and became the first Stevens player since 2009 to be named the Empire 8 Conference's Player of the Year. Behind Astel's efforts, the Ducks received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Additionally, Astel led the Ducks to their most wins since 2008-09, and recorded career-highs in assists, steals and three pointers.
Ricchiuti was the only Bomber to average double-digits in points per game at 11.1 this season as she played in all 29 contests with 27 starts. She shot 40.3-percent from the floor (116-for-288) and 37.4-percent from three-point range (43-for-115) this season, to go along with 4.4 rebounds per outing.
Kelly enjoyed a strong 2014-15 season as she led the Golden Flyers and was among the conference leaders in both scoring (15.2 ppg.) and rebounding (10.2 rpg.). She also set a school record for single-season field goal accuracy by hitting 60.1 percent of her shots (161-for-268) and was first in the Empire 8 in free throw percentage at 82 percent (73-for-89). On Feb. 6 at Alfred, she became the 14th Nazareth player to surpass 1,000 points in career scoring.
2014-15 ECAC Division III Upstate Women’s Basketball All-Star Teams
ECAC Player of the Year
Shannon McGinnis, Senior, SUNY Geneseo
ECAC Rookie of the Year
Alexandra Leslie, Freshman, University of Rochester
ECAC Coach of the Year
Scott Hemer, SUNY Geneseo
*First Team
Shannon McGinnis, Senior, SUNY Geneseo
Kara McDuffee, Senior, St. Lawrence University
Mary Kate Cusack, Junior, St. John Fisher
Brittany Dumas, Junior, SUNY Cortland
Caitlin Drakeley, Junior, Vassar College
Kaitlyn Astel, Junior, Stevens Institute of Technology?
*Second Team
Angela Botiba, Senior, Skidmore College
Ali Ricchiuti, Sophomore, Ithaca College
Lindsey Kelly, Junior, Nazareth College
Olivia Suhr, Junior, SUNY Brockport
Alexandra Leslie, Freshman, University of Rochester
Haley Witchella, Senior, Alfred State University
*Additional players added due to ties