NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Jakara Murray-Leach (Norwalk, Conn.) of the Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team was named the Great Northeast Athletic (GNAC) Defensive Player of the Year and named to the All-Conference Second Team, while teammates Caitlyn Scott (White Plains, N.Y.) was named to the first team and Diamond White (Hamden, Conn.), the third team. Sarah Evangelista (West Haven, Conn.) was named to the All-Sportsmanship team.
For Murray-Leach, she is the first Albertus women's basketball player to be named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year. She was second in the GNAC in total blocks with 47, including a program-record 10 in a game against Johnson and Wales. She also had 54 steals on the season, which was 12th in the conference and was ninth in rebounds per game at 8.3.
Murray-Leach also made her fourth appearance on an All-GNAC team. She was named to the All-GNAC First Team in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and was also named to the All-Rookie team in 2021-22.
Murray-Leach was sixth in made field goals in the GNAC with 179, eighth in field goal percentage at 48.1 percent (179-372). She also had 11 double-doubles on the season. She had 25 points and 10 rebounds in a win over the University of New England, and 25 points and 15 rebounds against Wesleyan in a win. She had eight games with at least 20 points, including a season-high 26 in a win over Coast Guard and scored her 1,000th career-point in a win over Rosemont. She is eighth all-time in scoring in program history with 1,388 points.
Murray-Leach was also named the GNAC Player of the Week once and named to the GNAC Weekly Honor Roll five times.
Scott makes her third appearance on an All-GNAC team and second straight time on the first team. She also made the third team in 2021-22.
Scott was a scoring machine this season, finishing third in both points with 561 and points per game at 20.8. She was also fourth in field goals made with 186 and third in total assists with 106.
Scott had 12 games with at least 20 points and three games with more than 30. She twice scored 36 points in a game in wins over New Jersey City while also grabbing eight rebounds and in a win over Rivier where she also had seven rebounds and two assists. Scott was named the United States Basketball Writers Association Division III Player of the Week in the tenth week of the season after averaging 28 points and six rebounds in a 2-0 week.
She was also named to the All-GNAC Tournament team after averaging 27 points and four rebounds. She scored 31 points in a quarterfinals win over New England College, including 4-for-7 from three.
Twice this season Scott was named GNAC Player of the Week while making the weekly honor roll four times.
Along with Murray-Leach, Scott also scored her 1,000th career point against Rosemont and now has 1,490 in her career, which is sixth most in program history.
White became a first time member of an All-GNAC team after averaging 15.1 points per game, which was 12th in the GNAC and totaling 68 steals which was fourth in the GNAC. She was also 11th in the conference in assists with 84.
White scored in double figures in 25 of the team's 27 games. She had six games with at least 20 points, including a season-high 24 points against Farmingdale State in a win. White had two games with eight steals including in a win over the University of New England where she also scored 23 points. She also had eight thefts in a win over Wesleyan.
White had one double-double on the season, scoring 19 points with 12 rebounds against the University of Saint Joseph on February 3.
Evangelista averaged 3.7 points on the season and hit 26 three-pointers. She scored a career-high 21 points - all in the fourth quarter - as she hit seven three-pointers in a 105-42 win over Dean on December 9.
ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM
Lyric Grumblatt, Rivier
Angelica Hurley, Saint Joseph's (Maine)
Jordan Ouellette, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)
Yasmine Santos, Mitchell
Caitlyn Scott, Albertus Magnus
ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM
Olivia Matela, Emmanuel
Jakara Murray-Leach, Albertus Magnus
Grace Ramsdell, Saint Joseph's (Maine)
Kathleen Rodriguez, New England College
Madi Zancan, Regis
ALL-CONFERENCE THIRD TEAM
Haley Brewster, Norwich
Kiara Cerruti, Lasell
Marinique Reddin, Anna Maria
Maya Slisz, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)
Diamond White, Albertus Magnus
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Jade Lewis, Elms
Alexa Lora, Johnson & Wales
Blaize Mack, Lasell
Grace Ramsdell, Saint Joseph's (Maine)
Meagan Schuermann, Emmanuel
MAJOR AWARDS
Player of the Year - Lyric Grumblatt, Rivier
Defensive Player of the Year - Jakara Murray-Leach, Albertus Magnus
Rookie of the Year - Grace Ramsdell, Saint Joseph's (Maine)
Coach of the Year - Wendy Davis, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)
Institutional Sportsmanship - Dean
ALL-SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM
Sarah Evangelista, Albertus Magnus
Madison Paulhus, Anna Maria
Lia Raynowska, Colby-Sawyer
Cat Thomas, Dean
Alexis Sanders, Emmanuel
Adalena Francis, Elms
Mikayla Caruso, Johnson & Wales
Brooke Damboise, Lasell
Kyrsten Lucas , Mitchell
Juliana Hernandez, New England College
Silas Bernier, Norwich
Courtney Doherty, Regis
Anna Stawasz, Rivier
Hannah Talon, Saint Joseph's (Maine)
Olivia Heslin, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)
