Dixon |
Faieta |
Pelletier |
Dixon and Faieta lead the way with first team honors, while Pelletier collects first All-NE-10 nod with third team selection
EASTON, Mass. (February 27, 2014) – Three members of the Stonehill College women's basketball team have earned All-Northeast-10 Conference honors as selected by the league's 15 head coaches it was announced today.
Senior guard Mary Louise Dixon (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) and junior forward Tori Faieta (Lynn, Mass./Saint Mary's) both earned first team All-Northeast-10 honors, while junior guard Amy Pelletier (Beverly, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) collects her first All-Conference selection with third team honors. The Skyhawks three All-Conference picks are the most since the 2008-09 season when the program placed one selection each to the first, second and third teams and gives the program 42 all-time dating back to the Conference's first season in 1981-82.
It marks the first time Stonehill has had two first team All-Conference selections since Kelsey Simonds, '10, and Emily Rousseau, '11, received the recognition in 2009-10. Dixon is the first two-time first team pick since Simonds was selected three straight years. Dixon and Faieta give Stonehill 22 first team All-Conference selections all-time and Faieta is the 18th women's basketball player in Skyhawks history to collect multiple All-Conference picks, joining Dixon who accomplished the feat as a junior.
Dixon, who earned third team All-Northeast-10 honors as a sophomore, picks up her third All-Conference award with her second straight first team selection. She is one of just two Stonehill players to start all 25 games this season and leads the team with 17 points (4th NE-10), 5.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists (2nd) and 1.8 steals (8th) in 32.9 minutes (6th) per game in her final collegiate season. Dixon is shooting 43.9-percent (133-for-303) from the field, including 38.3% (49-128) from three-point range, while converting 84.6% (110-130) of her free-throws (3rd). Dixon has led the Skyhawks in scoring 12 games this season, including each of the last six, rebounding five games and assists 22 games. She also ranks sixth among NE-10 leaders for assist/turnover ratio (1.9/gm) and fourth nationally for assists per game.
Dixon averaged 17.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists and two steals in Stonehill's 21 NE-10 regular season games, shooting 43.5% from the field, including 37.2% (42-113) from beyond the arc, and connecting on 85.6% (95-111) of her free-throws. She has notched two double-doubles this season, giving her nine for her career, and she also earned Spalding NE-10 Player of the Week honors for the third time in her career on December 9. Dixon was an honorable mention All-America selection in 2012-13 by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and Division II Bulletin, collecting Daktronics All-East Region second team honors as well. She has been named to the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for having a semester GPA over 3.0 five times and Athletic Director's Honor Roll (3.2 semester GPA) twice.
Dixon became the 27th 1,000-point scorer in program history in Stonehill's 82-64 season-opening victory over Barry University and enters the postseason ranked 11th all-time with 1,423 career points – just seven shy of cracking the program's career top ten. She is the only player in program history with over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds (574) and 500 assists (556), currently ranking fifth all-time for assists, ranking fourth with 5.1 assists per game, and 16th for rebounds. Dixon's 32.9 career minutes per game is on pace to set a new career record, while she also ranks second for free-throw percentage (.851) and career starts (96), fourth for free-throws made (404), eighth for three-point field goals made (139), ninth in three-point field goal percentage (.353), tenth for steals (183) and 12th all-time in scoring average (13.1 ppg).
Dixon scored a career-best 32 points in Stonehill's NCAA Tournament first round win over Franklin Pierce University last March, breaking the program's single-game record for an NCAA Tournament game, and was named to the East Regional All-Tournament team. Dixon also posted just the third triple-double in program history during her junior season with 19 points, a career-best 16 assists and career-high matching 13 rebounds in a win over UMass Lowell, converting a program record 17-of-17 free-throw attempts. She has been named to a pair of All-Tournament teams over her career and collected NE-10 All-Rookie team status as a freshman.
Faieta, who earned second team All-NE-10 honors as a junior, collects first team honors for the first time this season. She has started 23 of the 24 games she has played this season and is averaging 13.3 points (17th NE-10) and a team-high 7.8 rebounds (6th) and league-best 2.1 blocked shots and 1.6 assists in 24.7 minutes per game, shooting 52.7% (128-243) from the field (5th). Faieta is averaging 13.2 points, eight rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.5 blocks in 20 NE-10 games played. She has led the Skyhawks in scoring four games this season and rebounding 15 times, posting a team best six doubles-doubles (13 career).
Senior co-captain Mary Louise Dixon earns All-Northeast-10 honors for the third straight year with her second straight first team selection. (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
Faieta, an NE-10 All-Rookie Team selection as a freshman and NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll member three semesters, has earned NE-10 Player of the Week honors twice this season. She currently ranks third all-time in program history with 142 career blocked shots, ranking second all-time in blocks per game (1.8), fifth for career field goal percentage (.499), ninth in rebounding average (6.8/gm) and 19th in rebounds (543). Her field goal percentage this season currently ranks eighth in program history, while her career-high matching 51 blocks this season is tied for seventh-best all-time for a single season.
Pelletier earns All-Northeast-10 honors for the first time, joining Dixon as one of two to start all 25 Stonehill games this season. She is averaging 14 points (13th NE-10) on 45.2-percent (127-for-281) shooting, including 44.1% (79-179) from three-point land (4th), while converting 78.3% (18-23) of her free-throw attempts. She also chips in 2.4 assists in 30 minutes per game. Pelletier has led the Skyhawks in scoring eight times this winter, netting a career-high 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting beyond the arc, in a win at Franklin Pierce on November 26. She also collected All-Tournament team honors for the Assumption Tip-Off Classic this season, marking her third All-Tournament team pick over her career. Pelletier ranks fourth nationally in Division II with 3.2 three-pointers per game and tenth for three-point field goal percentage, while also ranking third among NE-10 leaders for assist/turnover ratio (2.3).
Pelletier, who has earned NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll status all five semesters and Athletic Director's Honor Roll four times over her Stonehill career, enters the postseason just two three-pointers shy of the single-season program record of 81 set by Michelle Doonan, '95, in 1993-94. Her 67 three-point field goals as a sophomore is the eighth-highest single season total in program history, while she ranks third all-time with 195 career threes. Pelletier's three-point percentage this winter is currently second best all-time in Stonehill history, behind Paula Kohs', '92, school-record 46% (74-161) in 1991-92. Pelletier also ranks fifth all-time at Stonehill for career three-point percentage (.400). She received the St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Students, Medal for having the highest cumulative grade point average on the team as a sophomore.
Stonehill (17-8, 14-7 NE-10), ranked third in the most recent NCAA Division II East Regional rankings released by the Regional Advisory Committee on Wednesday, is seeded second in the Northeast Division for the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Tournament which gets underway with first round action on Friday night. The Skyhawks will host American International College (17-9, 11-9 NE-10), seeded third from the Southwest Division, for an NE-10 quarterfinal round clash on Sunday in Merkert Gymnasium at 3 p.m.
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