General | 1/6/2025 12:50:37 PM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on January 6, 2025, for games played from December 31-January 5. It is the 18th Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2024-25 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and wrestling.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Todd Williamson, Russell Sage, Sr., F, Schenectady, NY/Notre Dame Bishop Gibbons
Williamson registered team-high totals of 16 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists to help Russell Sage win its fourth-straight game, 68-61 over SUNY Cobleskill on Friday. Williamson shot 5-for-8 from the floor and recorded his first double-double of the season.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Colin Gentile, SUNY Geneseo, Fr., G, Rochester, NY/Bishop Kearney
Gentile dropped a game-high 25 points and added eight rebounds for the Knights in a 90-82 overtime loss against RIT on Friday. Gentile shot 50 percent from the field (11-for-22) in the game and drained three 3-pointers. He also added an assist and a steal.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Molly Benetti, Nazareth, Jr., F, Syracuse, NY/West Genesee
Benetti averaged 16.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 blocks and 2.0 assists on 57 percent shooting in a pair of tough road games to ring in 2025. On Thursday, she was the only Nazareth player scoring double-digits in a tough loss to nationally ranked NYU on Thursday with 10 points, while also tallying three blocks, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal. The following day at Gwynedd Mercy, Benetti scored 22 points (8-of-12 from the field), while grabbing seven boards, earning five blocks, adding three assists, and racking up another steal in a 78-62 win.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Zephyr Connolly, SUNY Geneseo, Fr., G, Scarsdale, NY/Scarsdale
Connolly tallied four points, three rebounds and a pair of assists in a 74-54 win over SUNY Morrisville on Friday.
MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Luca Olivieri, SUNY Brockport, Jr., Breaststroke/Freestyle, Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy
Olivieri scored victories in the 50-meter freestyle (25.08 seconds) and 100-meter breaststroke (1:12.18), as SUNY Brockport secured a 131-88 win over Nazareth on Saturday afternoon.
WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Caroline Coleman, Nazareth, Sr., Freestyle, Eden, NY/Eden
Coleman won the 400-and 800-meter freestyle events as Nazareth defeated Brockport 139-103 on Saturday for Senior Day. Coleman also helped the 200-meter relay take first place. She recorded a time of 5:04.12 in the 400-meters and 10:27.42 in the 800-meters to win that event by early 30 seconds.
MEN’S WRESTLING
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK – Shay Sinitiere, St. John Fisher, Fr., 141 lbs., Carthage, NY/Carthage
Sinitiere earned a technical fall win over Billy Beseth of Utica University by a score of 17-1, as the Cardinals rolled to a 56-0 dual meet win over the Pioneers on Saturday.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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