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PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton sophomore
Bella Alarie was selected Player of the Year, Penn freshman
Eleah Parker was voted Rookie of the Year, Yale senior
Tamara Simpson was named Defensive Player of the Year and Princeton head coach
Courtney Banghart was chosen Coach of the Year after a vote by the eight Ivy League women’s basketball head coaches.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
For the fifth time in the past eight years, a Tiger took home Player of the Year Honors. Princeton sophomore guard/forward
Bella Alarie (Bethesda, Md.) is this year’s recipient after leading the Tigers in scoring (13.4 ppg), rebounding (9.0 rpg) and blocks (2.4 bpg), ranking tenth, second and third in the Ivy League in those categories respectively. Alarie, who also received Rookie of the Year in 2016-17, is the 14th Ivy to earn both awards. She is just the eighth sophomore to be named Player of the Year, the first from Princeton and the first overall since Dartmouth’s
Brittney Smith in 2008-09.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Penn freshman center
Eleah Parker (Charlotte, N.C.) is second on the team in scoring (11.8 ppg), first in rebounding (8.0 rpg), and second on the team in blocks (2.0 bpg), ranking fourteenth, fourth and fifth in the League in those categories respectively. Parker is the fourth Quaker in the last nine years to win the award joining teammate
Michelle Nwokedi (2014-15) as well as former Quakers
Sydney Stipanovich (2013-14) and
Alyssa Baron (2010-11).
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Yale senior guard
Tamara Simpson (North Babylon, N.Y.) was stellar on defense all season long, leading the League and breaking her own Yale all-time record with 115 steals. She averaged an astonishing 4.4 steals per game and ranks second all-time in Ivy League history with 347 steals, second only to Dartmouth’s Betsy Gilmore (370, 1991-95). Simpson takes home Defensive Player of the Year of the second-straight year to become the first Bulldog to receive multiple postseason honors.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Princeton head coach
Courtney Banghart guided the Tigers to a 22-5 overall year, including a 12-2 mark in Ivy League and the outright Ivy League regular season title for the sixth time in the past nine years. Princeton also earned the top seed in the Ivy League Tournament and enter #IvyMadness having won 16 of their past 18 games. Banghart earns her second Coach of the Year honor, having received the inaugural award in 2014-15.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
Alarie was joined on the first team by Tiger senior
Leslie Robinson (Corvallis, Ore.), the eighth Princeton teammates to each earn first team honors and first since
Michelle Miller and
Alex Wheatley in 2015-16. Harvard sophomore
Katie Benzan (Wellesley, Mass.) earned her second first team accolade and first as a unanimous selection, while Penn senior forward
Michelle Nwokedi (Missouri City, Texas) received her third career first team honor and Columbia senior guard/forward
Camille Zimmerman (Tempe, Ariz.) took home her second. Yale senior center
Jen Berkowitz (Wayland, Mass.) became the first Bulldog to be named to the first team since
Sarah Halejian in 2013-14.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Bella Alarie, Princeton (So., G/F – Bethesda, Md.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
*
Eleah Parker, Penn (Fr., C – Charlotte, N.C.)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Tamara Simpson, Yale (Sr., G – North Babylon, N.Y.)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Courtney Banghart, Princeton
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY^
Bella Alarie, Princeton (So. – Bethesda, Md.)
*Katie Benzan, Harvard (So. – Wellesley, Mass.)
Jen Berkowitz, Yale (Sr. – Wayland, Mass.)
Michelle Nwokedi, Penn (Sr. – Missouri City, Texas)
Leslie Robinson, Princeton (Sr. – Corvallis, Ore.)
Camille Zimmerman, Columbia (Sr. – Tempe, Ariz.)
SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY#
Jeannie Boehm, Harvard (So. – Winnetka, Ill.)
Kate Letkewicz, Dartmouth (Sr. – Waterloo, Iowa)
Shayna Mehta, Brown (Jr. – San Francisco)
Eleah Parker, Penn (Fr. – Charlotte, N.C.)
Taylor Rooks, Harvard (Sr. – Warren, N.J.)
Anna Ross, Penn (Sr. – Syracuse, N.Y.)
Tamara Simpson, Yale (Sr. – North Babylon, N.Y.)
HONORABLE MENTION
Justine Gaziano, Brown (So. – Natick, Mass.)
Roxy Barahman, Yale (So. – Calabasas, Calif.)
*-unanimous
^-first team expanded due to ties in the voting
#-second team expanded due to ties in the voting