Women's Basketball | 2/29/2024 10:03:00 AM

Springfield, Mass. - February 29, 2024 - In the midst of one of the best seasons in program history, the Springfield College women's basketball team received a number of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) postseason recognitions.

Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) was selected as the NEWMAC Women's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year and Naomi Graves and her staff were chosen as the NEWMAC Women's Basketball Coaching Staff of the Year.  Additionally, Rachel Vinton (Holden, Mass.) joined Czeremcha on the NEWMAC Women's Basketball All-Conference First Team. 

Czeremcha has had a dominant junior season and became just the second Springfield College women's basketball student-athlete to be named the top defensive player in the conference, joining Alex Goslin who was honored in 2019.  In collecting the first all-conference honor of her career, Czeremcha ranks 10th nationally in rebounds (318), which is 40 more than anyone else in the conference.  In addition to setting the program's single-season record for rebounds, Czeremcha has averaged a team-best 13.4 points per game and her 15 double doubles this year ranks in the top 20 across the Division III landscape. 

Vinton earned the second all-conference honor of her career as he was tabbed to the first team for the first time.  After returning to Alden Street for graduate school, Vinton fueled the Pride's tremendous season with her leadership and dynamic playmaking ability. In 25 appearances, Vinton averaged 12 points per game and handed out 98 assists to go along with 69 steals. She also pulled down 120 rebounds, added 11 blocks, and was among the conference leaders in assist/turnover ratio with a 2.3.

For Graves, this marked the fourth time in her tenure on Alden Street that she was tabbed the top coach in the conference and first since the 2005-06 season.  Surrounded by three first-year graduate student assistants in Alexis Castro, Katelyn McCann, and Elizabeth Thompson as well as assistant Bob Accorsi, Graves directed a staff that helped Springfield secure the top seed in the NEWMAC Championship Tournament and its seventh regular-season title.  Springfield earned its second-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament and will make its eighth appearance in the national tournament this weekend.

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