Five from MAAC Women's Basketball Earn All-Met Honors
EDISON, NJ – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) had five women’s basketball student-athletes garner postseason honors from the Metropolitan Sports Writers Association.
Rebekah Hand—First Team—and Alana Gilmer—Third Team—of Marist College, Samantha Cooper—Second Team—of Fairfield University, Stella Johnson—Second Team—of Rider University, and Kayla Grimme—Third Team—of Manhattan were honored by the writers.
Hand, who was the Met Writers Rookie of the Year a season ago, collects First Team honors after being named First Team All-MAAC this season as a sophomore and helped the Red Foxes make the Postseason WNIT and MAAC Championship game. The Texas native led the Red Foxes at 16.3 points and led the MAAC in free throw shooting at 94.1-percent.
Cooper, who was Second Team All-Met, helped the Stags finish fourth in the MAAC this season and averaged a double-double—15 points and 10 rebounds—as a redshirt-senior. Cooper finished her career with 1,294 points—16th all-time at Fairfield—and 996 rebounds. The Ontario native was a Second Team All-MAAC member this season.
Johnson, who like Cooper was a Second Team All-MAAC selection this season, collects Second Team All-Met honors. The sophomore guard was named to the MAAC All-Championship Team as she and the Broncs reached the semifinals. The New Jersey native led the Broncs in scoring (16.0), rebounding (6.2) and assists (100) this season.
Gilmer made the Third Team All-Met after being Second Team All-MAAC like with Johnson and Cooper. Gilmer was second on Marist and fifth in the MAAC in scoring at 15.5 points per contest. The redshirt-sophomore was second in the league in shooting at 47.5-percent.
Grimme joins Gilmer on the Third Team All-Met and becomes the fourth member of the All-MAAC Second Team to garner All-Met honors this postseason. The senior averaged 14.8 points and 8.5 rebounds for Manhattan and helped the Jaspers reach the quarterfinals at the MAAC Championship.
The All-Met First and Second Team players and coaches will be honored Wednesday, April 25, at the 85th NIT/MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner at the Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, New York.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 37th year of competition during the 2017-18 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter's University, and Siena College.