Women's Basketball | 2/27/2020 1:57:47 PM
Utica College senior guard Nicolette Conkin was named both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, as the Empire 8 Conference announced its 2019-20 Women’s Basketball All-Conference awards on Thursday, Feb. 27. The awards are voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
Conkin, an All-Empire 8 honorable mention selection in 2018-19, is third in the league in scoring this season, averaging 17.4 points per game and leads all Empire 8 players, dishing out 7.0 assists per contest and recording 3.4 steals per game. Conkin is third nationally in assists per game and in the top-20 in steals per contest. Conkin has scored in double figures 21 times this season, added 11 games with at least eight assists and also has two different games with eight steals.
First-year standout Ana Ion of Alfred University was named the E8 Rookie of the Year. Ion, a five-time Empire 8 Rookie of the Week in 2019-20, led the Saxons in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game to go along with 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
St. John Fisher head coach Melissa Kuberka and her staff were named the 2020 Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year. The Cardinals won the Empire 8 regular season title, going 12-2 in league play. St. John Fisher enters the Empire 8 Tournament 19-6 overall, while riding a six-game winning streak. The Cardinals were the highest scoring team (71.6 points per game) and stingiest defensive unit (56.2 points per game) in league play this season.
Nazareth senior Rachel Benedict, the 2019 Empire 8 Player of the Year, earned all-league first team honors for the third straight season after averaging 18.4 points and a league best 11.6 rebounds this season. Benedict, the 2017 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, has 1,624 career points. She was joined on the first team by Megan Flynn of Sage, Ella Eckert of St. John Fisher and a pair of Utica Pioneers, Sydney Przygoda and Conkin. Flynn is one of three E8 student-athletes to average a double-double on the season with 13.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game (third in the league). Eckert leads the Cardinals in scoring and is fourth among all E8 players, averaging 14.6 points per game. She is also fifth with 8.5 boards per contest. Przygoda leads the league in scoring (18.7 points per game), field goal percentage (56.8 percent) and is second in rebounding (10.9 per game).
St. John Fisher, Sage, Utica and Hartwick are in action this weekend as the 2020 Empire 8 Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament at St. John Fisher. The top-seeded Cardinals host defending league champion Hartwick in the first semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Friday, while Sage and Utica battle in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. The semifinal winners meet for the league title on Saturday at 4 p.m. with an automatic berth into the 2020 Division III NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on the line.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2019-20 Women's Basketball Sportswoman of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference 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.
2019-20 Empire 8 Women’s Basketball Award Winners
Player of the Year: Nicolette Conkin, Sr., G, Utica
Defensive Player of the Year: Nicolette Conkin, Sr., G, Utica
Rookie of the Year: Ana Ion, Fr., G, Alfred
Coaching Staff of the Year: St. John Fisher, led by Head Coach Melissa Kuberka
Empire 8 First Team
Rachel Benedict, Sr., F, Nazareth
Megan Flynn, Sr., F, Sage
Ella Eckert, So., F, St. John Fisher
Nicolette Conkin, Sr., G, Utica
Sydney Przygoda, So., F, Utica
Empire 8 Second Team
Giuliana Pritchard, So., F, Hartwick
Mary Schoenherr, Jr., G, Hartwick
Jadyn Abrams, So., F, Nazareth
Kaitlyn Bowman, Sr., G/F, Sage
Miranda Lynch, So., G, St. John Fisher
Empire 8 Honorable Mention
Ana Ion, Fr., G, Alfred
Maggie Kirby, So., G, Hartwick
Cori Beck, Sr., G, Houghton
Hannah Cybart, Jr., F, Houghton
Emie Taylor, So., C, Houghton
Julia Mertsock, So., F, St. John Fisher
Empire 8 Sportswoman of the Year
Kelley Andrews, Jr., F, Alfred
Taylor Albrecht, So., F, Elmira
Isley Sterling, Jr., F, Hartwick
Hannah Cybart, Jr., F, Houghton
Erica Bradley, Sr., F, Nazareth
Gessica Patregnani, Sr., G, Sage
Amy Gardner, So., G, St. John Fisher
Sam Cichon, Sr., C, Utica