By Jonah Bronstein
The rest of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference took note of the Niagara women’s basketball team’s resurgence in 2010.
Kendra Faustin was voted MAAC Coach of the Year by her peers, while point guard Kayla Stroman was selected as the MAAC Rookie of the Year and sophomore guard Ali Morris was picked as the MAAC Sixth Player of the Year.
“I am truly honored to win this award with so many worthy candidates,” Faustin said at the awards banquet in Albany. “I would like to thank the university, the athletic administration, my staff and the team.”
In their third year under Faustin, the Purple Eagles finished 9-9 in MAAC play, an eight-win improvement from a year ago. Picked to finish last in the preseason poll, Niagara enters the MAAC tournament as the No. 5 seed.
“The best thing about our team is we’re not going to give up,” said junior guard Liz Flooks, the team’s leading scorer and a second-team all-MAAC selection. “Last year we didn’t win our first conference game until Senior Day. Then we went out and won another game in the MAAC tournament.”
After setting a school record for losses last year, Niagara started off slowly this year, losing nine of its first 12 games and going 0-4 in early conference play. Niagara then strung together nine wins in 12 games, including an upset of perennial power Marist.
Stroman was a big part of the Purple Eagles turnaround this year. The Syracuse native averaged 9.2 points, 4.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists. Her assist total was second in the MAAC, and she is the first Niagara player to win Rookie of the Year since Kim Kuhn in 1990.
“She’s so poised and under control, getting us into our stuff, breaking presses on her own,” Flooks said. “She’s been a major part of our success.”
“In the last half of the season she really started feeling like this is her team and she’s ready to lead,” Faustin said.
Stroman said she did not expect to be an impact player right away.
“Not at all,” she said. “I just thought I’d come in as a freshman and be a backup.”
Stroman claimed the starting job in preseason, pushing last year’s point guard, Morris, into a reserve role, but also allowing her to play her natural position on the wing.
Morris averaged 6.8 points, 2.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds off the bench this season.
Niagara opens tournament player at 3:30 p.m. today against fourth-seeded Manhattan, a team it lost to twice this season.
“They’re either going to press us or zone us the entire game,” Faustin said. “They’re going to trap us all over the floor. We have to make sure that tempo doesn’t take us out of our tempo.”
• Six members of the Niagara women’s team were named to the all-academic team. They were Rachele Folino, Julie Gebhard, Jaclyn Konieczka, Jennifer McNamee, Jacy Schulz and Meghan Waterman.
On the men’s side, Niagara’s Demetrius Williamson, Paul Kowalski and Luuk Kortekaas made the all-academic team.
