Sigi Koizar and Liz Wood served as the catalysts for the University of Maine women’s basketball this season.
On Friday evening, they were rewarded for their efforts by being named to the America East All-Conference teams.
Koizar, a junior guard from Vienna, Austria, earned a first-team selection, and senior forward Wood of Catlett, Virginia, was a second-team pick.
Wood also was named to the All-Defensive Team, and both women claimed spots on the America East All-Academic Team.
Black Bears senior forward Bella Swan also joined the party, picking up a third-team all-conference nod.
Shereesha Richards of four-time defending league champion Albany was chosen the Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, and Binghamton sophomore Alyssa James was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Year.
Lake Region High School product Tiana-Jo Carter of Albany earned Sixth Player of the Year accolades, Stony Brook’s Ogechi Anyagaligbo was chosen Rookie of the Year, and Binghamton’s Linda Cimino took home the Coach of the Year Award.
Honorees were nominated by their own coaches and voted on by the head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players.
Koizar, who also was a first-team pick last season, moved up after connecting for 17.5 points per game (third in AE) and shooting a conference-best 43 percent from the 3-point arc.
In the classroom, she was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American on Thursday.
Wood captured her third all-conference honor with her second nod on the second team. She averaged 9.4 points and 7.4 rebounds along with three assists and 2.5 steals.
Wood, the Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season, also anchored the back line of the Black Bears’ defense, which ranks sixth in the country, allowing only 49.9 ppg.
Wood, the 2014-15 America East Female Student-Athlete of the Year, was a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American on her way to conference honors in the classroom.
Swan bolstered UMaine’s inside attack, connecting for 10.5 points and pulling down 5.8 rebounds per game in AE play.
Richards, a 6-foot-1forward, led America East in scoring (22.8 points per game) and was second in rebounding (8.6 rpg), fourth in field-goal percentage (.553) and eighth in steals (1.8 spg).
James, a sophomore forward, led the league and is 15th in the country in blocked shots (2.97 per game) and was the glue as Binghamton held opponents to 58.1 ppg this winter.
Carter, a 6-2 sophomore forward, came off the bench for the top-seeded Great Danes. She posted 8.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in conference games and shot 56 percent from the field, which ranked second in America East.
Anyagaligbo, a freshman forward, averaged 10.1 points and 9.1 rebounds to lead all first-year players in both categories. She became the first freshman to lead the league in rebounding since Julie Forster of Albany in 2009-10.
Joining Koizar and Richards on the All-AE first team are Albany’s Imani Tate, Elizabeth Belanger of New Hampshire and Taylor McCarley of UMBC.
The second team includes Zakiya Saunders of Albany, Binghamton’s Imani Watkins, Pandora Wilson of UMBC, Brittany Snow of Stony Brook and Wood.
The third team is composed of Binghamton’s Kim Albrecht and James, Darby Lee of Hartford, UMass Lowell’s Lindsey Doucette and Swan.
The All-Defensive Team consists of Richards, Tate, James, Wood and McCarley. The All-Rookie contingent features Anyagaligbo, Stony Brook teammate Davion Wingate, Ashley Storey of UNH, Lindsey Abed of Hartford and Binghamton’s Rebecca Carmody.
All-Academic picks were Koizar, Wood, Snow, Albrecht and Albany’s Cassandra Edwards.