2020 Women’s Basketball All-MAAC Teams Announced
Atlantic City, N.J. (March 9, 2019) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) has announced its All-MAAC First, Second, and Third Teams for women’s basketball. All-MAAC Teams are voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.
The All-MAAC First Team is made up of Rider University’s Stella Johnson, Marist College’s Rebekah Hand and Alana Gilmer, Manhattan College’s Courtney Warley, and Fairfield University’s Lou Lopez-Senechal.
The five All-MAAC First Team members are now in contention for the 2019-20 MAAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year honor, which is selected by the league’s 11 head coaches. The 2019-20 MAAC Player of the Year will be announced at the Postseason Awards Show, held in the Adrian Phillips Theater at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Wednesday, March 11. The awards presentation will air live on ESPN3.
Stella Johnson was a unanimous selection to the All-MAAC First Team after being named the 2018-19 MAAC Player of the Year and 2019-20 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year. Johnson has led the NCAA in scoring for the length of the season, averaging 24.4 points per game. The senior also led the MAAC this season in steals, averaging 2.9 per game, and led in time on the court, averaging 37.0 minutes. The stellar senior’s top performances came early in the season at the MAAC/ASUN Challenge where she posted 41 points against Lipscomb and 39 against North Florida en route to being named the weekend’s MVP. Johnson was named the MAAC Pepsi Zero Player of the Week a record breaking ten times, including the final four weeks of the season, in leading the Rider Broncs to the team’s first ever regular season title and the top spot in the 2020 Hercules Tires MAAC Women’s Basketball Championship.
Marist’s Rebekah Hand and Alana Gilmer join Johnson as unanimous selections to the 2020 All-MAAC First Team. The senior duo were both selected to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team and led the Red Foxes to the program’s 12
th regular season title after finishing 18-2, tied with Rider. Hand ranked second in the MAAC and led the Red foxes in scoring, posting 18.0 points per contest. The Argyle, Texas native was a sharpshooter throughout the season with a .522 field goal percentage (second in the MAAC) and a .413 field goal percentage from beyond the arc (fourth in the MAAC). Following a record-breaking performance from the charity stripe in 2018-29, Hand followed with another solid season from the free throw line – hitting 82 of her 94 attempts for a .872 free throw percentage.
Gilmer followed closely behind Hand in scoring, posting 17.2 points a game and shooting an identical .522 from the field. Gilmer’s standout performance of the season came on Jan. 23 against the defending champion Quinnipiac Bobcats, where the redshirt senior dropped 30 points while shooting 14-25 from the field and adding four rebounds, two steals, and an assist. On the season, Gilmer averaged 30.9 minutes of action, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.
Manhattan’s Courtney Warley entered 2019-20 as the defending MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. The junior posted improved numbers, dropping 11.6 points per game to go with 8.8 rebounds, 2.4 steals, .86 blocked shots, and 34.9 minutes of action per game. Her 69 steals ranked second in the MAAC and her 254 rebounds ranked third. The West Chester, Pennsylvania native was smart with her shot selection, ranking sixth in the MAAC with a .484 field goal percentage in leading the Jaspers to the No. 4 seed in the MAAC championship.
Fairfield’s Lou Lopez-Senechal backed up her 2018-19 MAAC Rookie of the Year selection by making the 2019-20 All-MAAC First Team as the only sophomore. The sophomore averaged 15.4 points per game, shooting .382 from deep to lead the Stags to the No. 3 seed in this year’s championship, the team’s highest seed since 2016-17. Lopez-Senechal closed the season with her best game of the year – a 27-point, 11-rebound double-double performance against Niagara to secure the Stags the No. 3 spot.
The All-MAAC Second team is comprised of Fairfield’s Katie Armstrong, Marist’s Grace Vander Weide, Niagara’s Jai Moore, and Rider’s Lea Favre and Amari Johnson. The All-MAAC Third Team is comprised of Canisius’ Danielle Sanderlin, Iona’s Juana Camilion, Quinnipiac’s Taylor Herd, Saint Peter’s Taiah Thornton, and Siena’s Sabrina Piper.
For a full list of the 2019-20 All-MAAC Teams, see below.
| All-MAAC First Team |
| Name |
Year |
Institution |
| Lou Lopez-Senechal |
So. |
Fairfield |
| Courtney Warley |
Jr. |
Manhattan |
| Alana Gilmer* |
R-Sr. |
Marist |
| Rebekah Hand* |
Sr. |
Marist |
| Stella Johnson* |
Sr. |
Rider |
* - Denotes unanimous selection
| All-MAAC Second Team |
| Name |
Year |
Institution |
| Katie Armstrong |
R-Sr. |
Fairfield |
| Grace Vander Weide |
R-Sr. |
Marist |
| Jai Moore |
Sr. |
Niagara |
| Lea Favre |
Sr. |
Rider |
| Amari Johnson |
Sr. |
Rider |
| All-MAAC Third Team |
| Name |
Year |
Institution |
| Danielle Sanderlin |
Jr. |
Canisius |
| Juana Camilion |
So. |
Iona |
| Taylor Herd |
Sr. |
Quinnipiac |
| Taiah Thornton |
R-Jr. |
Saint Peter’s |
| Sabrina Piper |
Sr. |
Siena |
The 2020 Hercules Tires MAAC Women’s Basketball Championship will take place from March 10-14 in the event’s inaugural year at Atlantic City’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. Tickets can be purchased by visiting
ticketmaster.com or by visiting
maacsports.com/basketball. To keep up with the postseason action, follow @MAACHoops on Twitter and join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #maAChoops20.
About Atlantic City Sports Commission:
The Atlantic City Sports Commission was officially formed on January 13, 2015 as a 501 (c)(3) organization with the support of Meet AC and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to attract sporting events, conventions and competitions to Atlantic City. For more information, visit www.atlanticcitysports.org. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Spectra:
Spectra is an industry leader in hosting and entertainment, partnering with clients to create memorable experiences for millions of visitors every year. Spectra's unmatched blend of integrated services delivers incremental value for clients through several primary areas of expertise: Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality, and Partnerships. Learn more at SpectraExperiences.com. Follow Spectra on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Spectra secured the Media Presenting Sponsorship with Atlantic City Weekly.
About the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority:
The only agency of its kind nationwide, the CRDA has used Atlantic City casino reinvestments as a catalyst for meaningful, positive improvement in the lives of New Jersey residents since 1984. Under the 2011 Tourism District Act, the Authority's mission evolved from statewide projects to becoming the state's key economic development agency for Atlantic City. CRDA's expanded responsibilities now include land use regulation, tourism marketing and clean and safe initiatives. The CRDA also oversees Historic Boardwalk Hall (the leading entertainment venue of its size in the country) and the Atlantic City Convention Center. In total, CRDA has invested nearly $2 billion in more than 400 projects statewide, of which $1.8 billion has been invested in Atlantic City, spurring business investments and expansions, and creating permanent jobs in the process. For more information about CRDA and our projects, visit www.njcrda.com. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/njcrda and Twitter at www.twitter.com/njcrda.
About Van Wagner Sports:
Van Wagner Sports, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Wagner Group LLC, creates, advises, and sells on behalf of world-class teams, leagues, brands, properties, and colleges. An innovator in the sports and media business, Van Wagner is a global leader in high-impact broadcast visible signage throughout the MLB, NBA, NCAA, and the highest levels of international soccer, sponsorships sales, premium ticketing, college multi-media rights, and in-venue content production at the world's biggest sporting events. http://www.vanwagner.com/.
About the 2020 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships:
The MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships return to New Jersey on March 10-14, 2020 at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. To stay up to date on MAAC basketball, visit
http://maacsports.com/basketball and follow
@MAACHoops on Twitter.
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 39
th year of competition during the 2019-20 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.