The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference

Northampton, MA: Mount Holyoke's Angela Astuccio (Foxboro, MA) and coach Michelle Scecina took two of the prestigious NEWMAC awards today voted upon by the conference women's basketball coaches. Astuccio, a senior point guard, was voted the Most Valuable Player while Scecina picked up Coach of the Year honors. The Lyons' senior guard, Joeanna Silvey (Boston, MA) was also selected to the All Conference First team. Rookie of the Year honors went to first year Melissa Martinelli (Vero Beach, FL) from the United States Coast Guard Academy. MIT was named as the inaugural Sportsmanship Award winner as voted on by the basketball players at each conference member institution.

Filling out the All Conference First Team were senior forward Meghan Pajonas (Bristol, CT) from the tournament runner-up WPI, sophomore forward Krystin Hickey (Manchester, NH) from Wheaton and Coast Guard's junior guard Natalie Moyer (Oklahoma City, OK).

Babson placed three players on the All Conference Second Team including seniors Suzy Ward (North Attleboro, MA) and Colleen Burke (Pittsfield, MA) as well as junior Caitlin Boulier (Wolcott, CT). Sophomore forward Sarah Roderique (Oakland, ME) from Clark and Springfield's sophomore center Lauren O'Connor (Valhalla, NY) completed the Second Team.

Mount Holyoke College received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament and will face Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME on Friday, March 2. Wheaton College and WPI were selected to the ECAC Women's Basketball Championship that begins on Wednesday, February 28. WPI, the number two seed will host Nichols while Wheaton, the number four seed, will host Suffolk; both games begin at 7 p.m.

2007 NEWMAC Women's Basketball Awards

Player of the Year: Angela Astuccio, Mount Holyoke
Rookie of the Year: Melissa Martinelli, Coast Guard
Coach of the Year: Michelle Scecina, Mount Holyoke
Sportsmanship Award: MIT

NEWMAC All-Conference Team

First Team
Angela Astuccio, Mount Holyoke
Krystin Hickey, Wheaton
Natalie Moyer, Coast Guard
Meghan Pajonas, WPI
Joeanna Silvey, Mount Holyoke

Second Team
Caitlin Boulier, Babson
Colleen Burke, Babson
Lauren O'Connor, Springfield
Sarah Roderique, Clark
Suzy Ward, Babson

NEWMAC ANNOUNCES 2007 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM