PRINCETON, N.J. -- Penn and Princeton, which shared the 2018-19 Ivy League women’s basketball championship, took three of the four postseason awards and Columbia received the fourth after a vote by the League’s head coaches.
Princeton junior
Bella Alarie was named Player of the Year for the second-straight season, while Columbia freshman
Sienna Durr became the first Lion ever to receive Rookie of the Year honors. Penn took home two awards, with sophomore
Eleah Parker earning Defensive Player of the Year and coach
Mike McLaughin receiving Coach of the Year.
Alarie is the fifth Ivy in League history to receive back-to-back Player of the Year honors after being named Rookie of the Year, and the first from Princeton. Despite missing the first nine games with an injury, Alarie came back strong, with 13 double-doubles in 20 games, while leading the Tigers to a share of the League title. Alarie scored a career high 459 points, 60 better than her previous high in 10 fewer games, averaging 23.0 points per contest. Alarie led the League with 24.5 points and 11.7 rebounds per Ivy contest. She was also a unanimous selection to the first team to become the 24
th Ivy to receive the honor three times, and second from Princeton, joining
2019 Legend of Ivy League Basketball Niveen Rasheed.
Parker anchored a Penn defense that led not only the League in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and blocks, but also ranked fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense, seventh in scoring defense, ninth in blocks and ninth in three-point percentage defense. Parker averaged 15.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game, leading the League in the latter category. Parker is the first Quaker to be named Defensive Player of the Year since
Sydney Stipanovich, who received the award three times from 2013-16. Parker was also unanimously selected to the first team after receiving second team accolades a season ago.
Durr is the first-ever Lion to be named Rookie of the Year, and the second to receive a postseason award, joining the 2009-10 Player of the Year,
Judie Lomax. Durr led her team in scoring (14.5), rebounding (6.2) and field goal percentage (48.7). In Ivy-only games, she ranked 11
th overall and first among freshman with 13.9 points per game. Durr was a six-time Rookie of the Week recipient, the second Lion to accomplish the feat, joining
Camille Zimmerman (2015).
McLaughlin led Penn to a 22-5 overall record, including a 12-2 Ivy mark, as the Quakers claimed a share of the League title. He receives Coach of the Year for the third time overall and first since going back-to-back in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Penn has won six Ivy titles overall, with four of those coming over the last six seasons under McLaughlin’s watch.
Alarie was joined on the first team by Tigers sophomore
Carlie Littlefield, who takes home her first career All-Ivy honor. Harvard junior
Katie Benzan received her third-straight first team accolades, while Cornell junior
Laura Bagwell-Katalinich and Yale junior
Roxy Barahman each took home their first.
Dartmouth senior
Isalys Quinones was selected to the second team to represent the Big Green, while a pair of Bears were named Honorable Mention in junior
Justine Gaziano and senior
Shayna Mehta.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Bella Alarie, Princeton (Jr., G/F – Bethesda, Md.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Sienna Durr, Columbia (Fr., G/F – Grinnell, Iowa)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Eleah Parker, Penn (So., C – Charlotte, N.C.)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Mike McLaughlin, Penn
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY^
*Bella Alarie, Princeton (Jr., G/F – Bethesda, Md.)
Laura Bagwell-Katalinich, Cornell (Jr., F – Minneapolis)
Roxy Barahman, Yale (Jr., G – Calabasas, Calif.)
Katie Benzan, Harvard (Jr., G – Wellesley, Mass.)
Carlie Littlefield, Princeton (So., G – Waukee, Iowa)
*Eleah Parker, Penn (So., C – Charlotte, N.C.)
SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY
Princess Aghayere, Penn (Sr., F – Reston, Va.)
Sienna Durr, Columbia (Fr., G/F – Grinnell, Iowa)
Isalys Quinones, Dartmouth (Sr., F – San Diego)
Madeline Raster, Harvard (Sr., G – South Bend, Ind.)
Ashley Russell, Penn (Sr., G – Braintree, Mass.)
HONORABLE MENTION
Janiya Clemmons, Columbia (Jr., G – Accokeek, Md.)
Justine Gaziano, Brown (Jr., G – Natick, Mass.)
Shayna Mehta, Brown (Sr., G – San Francisco)
*-unanimous selection
^-first team expanded due to ties in the voting