WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Riley earns conference honors
Observer Staff Report
STORRS, Conn.
Ruth Riley carried home more hardware than a thief leaving Home Depot at Friday night's Big East Awards Banquet.
Capping off a dominant senior campaign which saw her lead the conference in both scoring and field goal percentage, Riley was unanimously voted Big East Player of the Year.
"If you look at all the competition in the Big East and see all the players, at the guard and forward positions, that's a great honor," Riley said.
She also took home the conference Defensive Player of the Year plaque for the third straight season. Riley led the Big East in blocked shots per game with 3.6 this season. She ends her regular season career with 193 blocked shots in conference games, the second highest career mark in the history of the Big East.
A star both on the court and in the classroom, Riley was awarded for her all-around dedication as she took home the 2000-01 Big East Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
She also earned national acclaim, being named the Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Riley will receive $4,000 to apply towards graduate studies.
"I was kind of surprised," Riley said. "I wasn't thinking too much about what awards they were handing out. It was nice with all the work you do throughout the season."
uRiley is joined in the All-Big East first team by teammate Niele Ivey. The fifth-year point guard made the first-team for the first time in her career.
uSenior Kelley Siemon earned the Most Improved Player of the year from conference coaches. After coming off the bench last season, Siemon finished the 2000-2001 campaign with an average of 10.7 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per contest, despite playing nearly half the season with a fractured left hand.
"I think that I definitely have probably improved but I don't think that it was really a thing that I did consciously or physically," Siemon said. "I thought about this year a lot mentally. I thought, `It's a new year, I'm not going to hold back, I'm going to do what I need to do.'"
uGuard Alicia Ratay was named to the All-Big East third team, while Siemon earned Honorable Mention.
uHead coach Muffet McGraw took home the Big East Coach of the Year award. The head coach won her 400th career game during the season, a season in which she took the Irish to the No. 1 spot in the polls for the first time ever.
uStorrs is expecting anywhere from one to two feet of snow by this morning. It is still unclear as to what tournament officials will do if Mother Nature bears down on the area.
The team bus was escorted by police from Gampel Pavilion to their hotel 20 miles west. Interstate 84 was limited to only one lane after the severe snowfall.
With the possibility of the tournament being prolonged on the horizon, McGraw is taking a few precautions.
"We don't have a contingency plan right now except maybe go get some food and keep it in the hotel, just in case," McGraw said.
Siemon hasn't even thought of the surroundings.
"I'm not even really thinking about it [the weather]," Siemon said. "We play basketball, so let's go play. Put me on the court."
uIrish backup guard Monique Hernandez sprained the MCL in her left knee during practice Thursday. She is expected to miss no more than two weeks and will likely return for the NCAA tournament.
Assistant Sports Editors Tim Casey and Noah Amstadter compiled this report.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, March 6, 2001
