ALBANY, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Women's Basketball had three players earn All-Empire 8 Conference honors. Results of the voting, conducted by the league's head coaches, were announced earlier today.
Junior Layla Acosta (Haines City, FL/Haines City) garnered second-team accolades. The guard, a third-team All-E8 selection last year, concluded her season ranked eighth in the E8 in scoring at 12.8 points per-game and led the E8 with an 89.0 free throw percentage. She scored in double figures 18 times, including four 20+ point performances, and made 34.1 percent of her shot attempts. The guard closed the season atop the program's career record book with an 83.2 free throw percentage and ranked sixth among Gators with 129 career made three-pointers. She finished the year with 873 career points, just 127 away from becoming the tenth RSC player to reach the 1,000-career points milestone.
Senior guard Malena Gereau (Schroon Lake, NY/Schroon Lake Central) took home third-team honors. The co-captain began the week ranked 11th in the E8 with 12.3 points per-game. She registered three double-doubles and averaged 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.5 assists. Gereau tallied double figures 16 times, eclipsed 20 points on three occasions, and reeled in double-digit boards six times.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2024-25 E8 Women's Basketball Sportswomen of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen. Senior guard Olivia Huneau (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) represented the Gators on the squad.
The trio helped RSC (11-15/9-7 E8) qualify for the E8 Conference Championship Tournament for the fifth time in program history.
Gator Bites with Papa John's: With a February 8 win at Utica, the Gators clinched their fifth appearance in the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament…RSC finished the regular season by winning eight of its final ten games to secure a playoff berth…The season marked the first with Michael Branche as the Head Coach of RSC Women's Basketball…He had been an assistant women's basketball coach since July 2020…12 players, making up just shy of 94 percent of the team scoring returned for the Gators…The dozen combined with five newcomers on this year's squad…RSC finished the regular season with seven of its last eight games away from home…Gereau, Acosta, and senior guard Lauren Sanderson (Ravena, NY/Ravena-Coyemans-Selkirk) headlined the returning Gators…Acosta was announced as the Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, February 9…She averaged 20.3 points on 45.8 percent shooting to help RSC clinch a spot in the E8 playoffs with a 3-0 week...Sophomore forward Kallie Hopkins (Millsboro, DE/Poly Tech) started the week leading RSC in rebounding a 7.6, good for fifth in E8…Sanderson concluded her campaign tied for tenth in the E8 with 1.8 steals per-game…Huneau, Sanderson, and Gereau were voted captains of the team.
