HAWKS BASKETBALL WINS BIG AT OCAA ATHLETIC AWARDS BANQUET
WELLAND, ON: The Humber Hawks women's basketball team dominated all season long on the court and to no surprise, they dominated off the court at the 2016 OCAA Athletic Awards Banquet Thursday morning.
After completing only the second 18-0 record in program history and setting a new OCAA team scoring record, four student-athletes and the head coach left the ceremony with eight combined awards.
Headlining the morning was Ceejay Nofuente (Toronto), who was named a CCAA All-Canadian, OCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year, and First-Team All-Star. (Click here for full story on Nofuente)
Fifth-year shooting guard Mary Asare (Brampton) was named OCAA West Division Defensive Player of the Year for being the catalyst on the league's best defensive team that allowed a mere 48.7 points-per-game to opponents this season.
Llyandra Kerr (Markham), a former York Lion, was named a Second-Team All-Star for the second time in as many seasons. The five-foot-nine forward set a new career-high in points (200) and shot a remarkable 94.7 percent from the free throw line this season.
Rounding out the Humber student-athletes to win awards was Felicia Velasquez (Brampton), who was named to the West Division All-Rookie team after finishing seventh in the league averaging 3.3 steals-per-game. The five-foot-three guard became the first Hawk to be named to the All-Rookie team since Aleena Domingo in 2013.
Hawks head coach Ajay Sharma received the league's top honour for coaches when he was named OCAA Coach of the Year and OCAA West Division Coach of the Year. (Click here for full story on Sharma)
"It was great to see," said Coach Sharma when asked about the recognition Humber received at today's banquet. "Each award was well deserved and it really says a lot about our program as a whole. With that being said, all our goals have not been realized quite yet and we still have room for improvement if we expect to fulfill those goals."
Humber has now accumulated eight All-Star selections by six players in the Sharma era and 55 total selections in program history.
The end of the banquet marks the beginning of the 2016 OCAA Championship, which is being hosted by Niagara College. The quarter-final matchup for the Hawks will be against the St. Clair Saints and tip-off is set for 1:00pm. All games will be live streamed and is available here. Be sure to follow the @HumberHawks on Twitter for everything Hawks women's basketball.
