The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced the Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year awards for the 2016-17 women’s basketball season. The conference coaches vote on the awards and all-conference teams.
This is the first year the E8 has honored a separate Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year.
The Offensive Player of the Year award goes to Stevens Institute of Technology’s
Kaitlyn Astel. Astel was also the Player of the last two seasons, marking the first time in E8 women’s basketball history a player has earned a yearly honor three times. She averaged 16.8 points per contest, which ranks third among conference players and her field goal percentage of 45.8% leads the league. Astel reached double-figures in points in 20-of-24 games in the regular season and led the team in scoring on 14 different occasions. In addition, she has grabbed 37 offensive rebounds and accumulated 51 assists in her 23 starts.
Stevens’
Megan Brown has been named the Defensive Player of the Year. Brown started all 24 games to date and averaged 10.6 points, 10 rebounds and 1.6 steals. Her 10 rebounds rank second in the conference and she also ranks second in the league with 1.2 blocks per game. Brown had 13 games with 10 or more rebounds including a season high 18.
Nazareth freshman
Rachel Benedict was voted the Rookie of the Year. She is the third Nazareth player to earn the honor and joins 2002 recipient Kadi Burgess and 2007 honoree Whitney Smith. Benedict started all 25 games and averaged 11.4 points and 8.9 rebounds. Among conference players Benedict ranked 15th in points per game and fourth in rebounds. The five-time E8 Rookie of the Week reached double figures in scoring in 13 games, including a season high of 25 points.
The
Stevens coaching staff, headed by Megan Haughey, was chosen as Coaching Staff of the Year for the second straight year. The Ducks went 14-2 in conference play and were 15-9 in the regular season to gain the top seed for the upcoming E8 Conference Tournament by virtue of a tiebreaker. Stevens will be seeking its fouth conference title this weekend and second under Haughey’s direction. The Ducks lead the Empire 8 in scoring defense (56.1), rebounding offense (44.6) and rebounding margin (4.9).
One member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2016-17 Women’s Basketball Sportswoman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.
Empire 8 2016-17 Women’s Basketball All-Conference Teams
Offensive Player of the Year: Kaitlyn Astel, Stevens Institute of Technology
Defensive Player of the Year: Megan Brown, Stevens Institute of Technology
Rookie of the Year: Rachel Benedict, Nazareth College
Coaching Staff of the Year: Stevens Institute of Technology