AMERICA EAST PRESEASON COACHES POLL
AMERICA EAST PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Hartford women's basketball team was picked to finish third overall by a vote of head coaches as announced at the 2011 America East Basketball Media Day on Thursday at the Connecticut State Capital. The Hawks are coming off of their fifth America East Championship and sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament, finishing the 2010-11 season with a 17-16 overall record.
The UMBC Retrievers highlighted the annual poll, receiving five of the nine possible first place votes. Boston University and the Hawks each picked up two of the four remaining first place votes – coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team. The Terriers were listed in second place, finishing with 56 points, while the Hawks finished with 54. UMBC, who was the 2010-11 regular season champion, received 60 points in the poll.
Binghamton and Albany rounded out the top five in the poll. The Bearcats finished with 43 votes, while Albany garnered 43. New Hampshire finished sixth overall with 35 points and Vermont finished seventh with 22 points. Rounding out the poll was Stony Brook (15 points) and Maine (12 points).
Also announced at Monday's basketball kick-off event was the five member Preseason All-Conference Team, on which the Hawks were not represented. Three of the five players named to the 2011-12 pre-season team were unanimous choices; Ebone Henry (Albany), Chantell Alford (Boston Univ.) and Michelle Kurowski (UMBC). Rounding out the team was Binghamton's Andrea Holmes and UMBC's Erin Brown.
The Hawks will look to its junior class, who provided more than 50 percent of the teams scoring last year, and the senior leadership of Keyokah Mars-Garrick the lone member of the class of 2012. Three members of the junior class were named to the All-Championship team, Alex Hall, Ruthanne Doherty and Daphne Elliott, with Hall being named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 Championship.
The Hawks fifth championship was the first won away from the friendly confines of the Chase Family Arena. In the four-day America East Championship held at Hartford, the Hawks, who finished third in the regular season, defeated Albany and UMBC before their date with the Boston University Terriers in the title game at Case Gymnasium. The Hawks went on to defeat BU 65-53, earning the Hawks second-straight trip to the Big Dance.
Elliott enters her junior year as the leading returner, averaging 8.5 points-per-game. Doherty is right on her heels, averaging 7.6 ppg for the year, with that average increased to 10.1 points during the conference regular season. Doherty also led the Hawks with an average of 5.9 rebounds-per-game.
Head coach Jennifer Rizzotti, who enters her 13th season at the helm of the Hawks, and the Hawks welcome four freshman to the class of 2016. A pair of Connecticut natives join the squad, Amber Bepko (Middletown, Conn./Mercy) and Cherelle Moore (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral). Moore hails from the same high school as former Hawks Erica Beverly who graduated as the fifth leading scorer in school history and the first player to record 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Rounding out the incoming class is Shanise Bultron (Watertown, Mass./Tabor Academy) and Katie Roth (Castelton, N.Y./Maple Hill).
The University of Hartford will host the 2012 America East Men's and Women's Basketball Championship at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion in March for the third-straight year. The championship event in West Hartford, which begins on March 1, will feature the first round, quarterfinals and semifinals for both the men and women, while the championship game for each will be held at the home court of the highest remaining team.
