WBCA All-America Honors Awarded to Faraj, a Sage women's basketball first!

WBCA All-America Honors Awarded to Faraj, a Sage women's basketball first!
ATLANTA, GA – Russell Sage College’s women’s basketball sophomore guard Syrita Faraj (Troy, NY/Tamarac) earned acclaim no other women’s basketball player at Sage has ever achieved. On Thursday, Faraj was named to the 2023 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-America Honorable Mention Team.

 

Head Women’s Basketball Coach Allison Coleman noted, “Being named an honorable mention All-America selection is a tremendous achievement and to do it as only a sophomore is a considerable accomplishment!” She added, “Syrita puts in the work to elevate her skills and abilities on the court and this distinction is a testament to all of that hard work.”

 

Faraj, who was also named to the Empire 8 First Team after also earning acclaim as the league’s 2022-2023 Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, was also selected to the Empire 8 Women’s Basketball All-Tournament Team. Over the course of the season, she helped to lead the Gators to the Empire 8 Semifinals and finished the year with a school-record 524 points scored. She also broke the Gators’ single-season points per game average with a 20.2 ppg average. Faraj, the 2021-22 E8 Rookie of the Year, eclipsed 500 career points on Dec. 29 vs. Rhode Island College and now has 896 career points in just two seasons with the program.

 

She scored 32 points, the fifth-most in a game by any RSC player, twice this season (1/28, 2/4) and added 224 rebounds with 46 assists, and 50 steals in 26 games played and started this year.  She shot 46.7% from the floor (140-182), while also converting 76.9% of her free throws (140-182) and averaged 28.7 minutes a game as well.

 

Faraj becomes the third Sage student-athlete to earn All-America status from their national coaches association following in the footsteps of men’s basketball player Kai Deans (2015) and softball player Morgan Dunn (2016).

 

Player of the Year Morgan Morrison headlines 2022 WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches’ All-America team

 

ATLANTA (March 16, 2023) – Morgan Morrison of Smith College is the 2023 WBCA NCAA Division III Player of the Year and headlines the 2023 WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches’ All-America team, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced today.

 

The WBCA presents the Player of the Year award annually to the top player in five of the six WBCA membership divisions (NCAA Divisions II, and III, NAIA, two-year college and high school). The Player of the Year and the 10-member Coaches’ All-America team in each division are selected by a committee of WBCA member coaches in that division. The Wade Trophy is presented to the best player in NCAA Division I.

 

Here are the student-athletes who received 2023 WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches’ All-America honorable mention:

 

Name                                                                                                    School

Maya Arnott                                                                                      Washington University in St. Louis

Claire Baguley                                                                                    Hope College

Korin Baker                                                                                         Whitman College

Anna Barry                                                                                          Eastern Connecticut State University

Megan Bauman                                                                                                Babson College                                                                                

Megan Bealer                                                                                    DeSales University

Natasha Blizzard                                                                               Hardin-Simmons University

Gabrielle Boggs                                                                                 Albright College

Claire Brock                                                                                        Emory University

Reilly Campbell                                                                                 Trinity College (CT)

Kacie Carollo                                                                                      University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Jordan Carpenter                                                                             University of Mary Washington

Emily Dorn                                                                                          Ithaca College

Meghan Dryburgh                                                                           Washington & Jefferson College

Sondra Fan                                                                                         Christopher Newport University

Syrita Faraj                                                                                         Russell Sage College

Savannah Feenstra                                                                         Hope College

Brianna Fitzgerald                                                                            SUNY at New Paltz

Meghan Graff                                                                                   Bates College

Sam Hourihan                                                                                    Springfield College

Lauren Hunter                                                                                   U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Grace Hynes                                                                                      University of Chicago

Kaci Kranson                                                                                      University of Scranton

Maddy Mandyck                                                                              Williams College

Sami Martin                                                                                        Loras College

Shannon McCoy                                                                               Kean University

Summer McNulty                                                                            Elizabethtown College

Kaylee Murphy                                                                                 University of California-Santa Cruz

Alexa Mustafaj                                                                                 Middlebury College

Parris Parmer                                                                                     Hardin-Simmons University

Belle Pellecchia                                                                                 New York University

Olivia Rangel                                                                                      Carroll University

Damaris Rodriguez                                                                          New Jersey City University

Jessie Ruden                                                                                      University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Anna Sanders                                                                                    Gustavus Adolphus College

Mary Schleusner                                                                              Washington & Lee University

Symantha Shackelford                                                                   Marymount University

Mackenzie Szlosek                                                                          Gettysburg College

Gabby Timmer                                                                                  Calvin University

Zoë Tomlinson                                                                                  Colorado College

 

About the WBCA

Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit WBCA.org for more details about the association.

 

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