Simonds Notches Second-Straight
NE-10 Player of the Week Award

Middleboro, Mass., native honored for sixth time over her career

EASTON, Mass. (December 7, 2009) - Stonehill College senior center Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) has collected Northeast-10 women's basketball Player of the Week honors for the second-straight week by the Conference office this afternoon.

Simonds, who earns the award for the sixth time in her career, led Stonehill to a pair of NE-10 wins last week to take over first place in the Conference standings. She averaged 23 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots, 2.5 steals and 1.5 assists over the Skyhawks two wins, shooting a combined 48.6-percent (17-for-35) from the field, including 2-of-3 (66.7%) from three-point range, while converting 10-of-11 (90.9%) free-throw attempts for the week.

Simonds led Stonehill to a 65-52 win at Saint Anselm College on Wednesday with a game-high 28 points (17 second half), eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. She then led the Skyhawks past Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday with her third double-double of the season as she tallied a game-high 18 points (16 second half) and ten rebounds to go with five blocked shots and three steals.

Simonds, a two-time first team All-Northeast-10 pick and honorable mention All-American, has started all eight games so far this season for Stonehill and ranks second among NE-10 leaders with 19.6 points per game to go with 7.6 rebounds (5^th NE-10), 2.2 blocked shots (2^nd), 2.0 assists and 1.4 steals in 25.0 minutes per game. She is shooting a team-best 51.1-percent (72-for-141) from the field (11^th), including 6-for-10 (60%) from three-point range, while converting 79.3% (46-58) of her free-throw attempts (14^th).

Simonds became Stonehill's career blocks leader earlier this season and collected her 200^th in Saturday's win over Southern New Hampshire, finishing with 204. She ranks eighth in program history with 756 career rebounds and her 1,407 career points are just three points shy of cracking the top ten on the Skyhawks' career scoring list.

Stonehill (8-2, 4-0 NE-10), ranked 21^st in last week's USA Today/ESPN/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II poll, is back in action tomorrow night when it hosts rival Bentley University, among others receiving votes in the national poll, in Merkert Gymnasium at 5:30 p.m. The Skyhawks will then hit the road for another key Conference clash at No. 2-ranked Franklin Pierce University on Friday at 5:30 p.m.