West Babylon, N.Y. - The East Coast Conference unveiled its women's basketball All-Conference honorees on Thursday afternoon, with Caroline White (Fairport, N.Y.) of Daemen College taking the top honor as the conference's Player of the Year. Molloy's Gabriella Aspuru (Farmingville, N.Y.) was named the ECC Defensive Player of the Year, while Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) of Daemen earned the league's Rookie of the Year award.
White's name can be found littered across the ECC's statistical leaders this season. The two-time All-Conference First Team pick helped the Wildcats to an ECC Regular Season Championship by ranking second in the league with 15.0 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game. She also comes in fourth with a 49.2 field goal percentage and tops the conference with a 44.2 three point field goal percentage. White rounds out her all-around game by ranking among the loop's top-10 in assists (10th - 25), steals (9th - 16), and assist to turnover ratio (6th - 1.6).
Aspuru earns the moniker of the league's top defender by helping the Lions field one of the stingiest defenses in all of Division II. Molloy ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense (51.6) and field goal percentage defense (32.0). Individually, Aspuru averaged 4.0 rebounds per game, 1.0 steals per game, and 0.9 blocks per game.
Paige was named the ECC's top rookie after leading all first-year players with 7.6 points per game, 3.5 assists per game, and 1.1 steals per game. She also finished among the ECC leaders in assists per game (2nd) and three point field goal percentage (40.0). Paige came on strong towards the end of the regular season, earning the league's Rookie of the Week honor the final two weeks. She also had the highest single-game scoring output in the ECC this season with a 28 point performance, that included draining seven three pointers, in a win over St. Thomas Aquinas.
Daemen's Jenepher Banker was selected as the Coach of the Year by her peers. She guided the Wildcats to an 11-1 record and a perfect 9-0 mark during ECC play to earn a second straight ECC Regular Season Championship. Banker also has Daemen ranked No. 1 in the NCAA East Region Rankings, bringing the Wildcats to the cusp of a second straight NCAA Tournament berth.
The ECC also announced the Women's Basketball All-Conference teams. Joining White on the First Team are Tiara Filbert (Sr., G, Daemen), Dimitra Gkizan (Jr., C, Roberts Wesleyan), Alexa Huertas (Jr., G, St. Thomas Aquinas), Paige McCormick (Sr., F, Roberts Wesleyan), and Katie Titus (Jr., F, Daemen).
Aspuru is also a Second Team honoree along with Mickayla Ivy (Jr., F, Daemen), Safiyyah Lee (Gr., F, Molloy), Sara Pfeiffer (So., G, D'Youville), and Katie Wall (So., G, Mercy).
2020-2021 ECC Women’s Basketball All-Conference
First Team
Tiara Filbert, Daemen
Dimitra Gkizani, Roberts Wesleyan
Alexa Huertas, St. Thomas Aquinas
Paige McCormick, Roberts Wesleyan
Katie Titus, Daemen
Caroline White, Daemen
Second Team
Gabriella Aspuru, Molloy
Mickayla Ivy, Daemen
Safiyyah Lee, Molloy
Sara Pfeiffer, D'Youville
Katie Wall, Mercy
Player of the Year: Caroline White, Daemen
Defensive Player of the Year: Gabriella Aspuru, Molloy
Rookie of the Year: Alahna Paige, Daemen
Coach of the Year: Jenepher Banker, Daemen
