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Three Of A Kind: Simonds, Rousseau and Tighe Named All-Conference
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| Stonehill is the only school to have three players earn all-conference honors. |
Three Of A Kind: Simonds, Rousseau and Tighe Named
All-Conference
South Easton, Mass. - A trio of Stonehill players - led by junior All-America Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) - have been named Northeast-10 All-Stars it was announced by the Northeast-10 Conference office on Friday morning.
In addition to Simonds' first-team selection, sophomore Emily Rousseau (Biddeford, Maine) and senior Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) were named second and third team honorees, respectively.
Despite missing six games in the heart of the conference season, Simonds returns to the first-team for a second straight season following a junior campaign that saw her average 15.7 points and 9.0 rebounds in 21 games. She was named Northeast-10 player of the week on two occasions, helping the Skyhawks to a 20-7 regular season record and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Tournament. Simonds had double-doubles in 10 games this season, highlighted by a 30-point, 16-rebound, seven-block performance in the epic four overtime win over Bentley. Earlier in the season she eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier and with her 48 blocks, has three of the top four single season rejection totals in school history.
Simonds joins two-time Northeast-10 Player of the Year Johannah Leedham as the only two repeat first-team honorees from a season ago.
Rousseau burst on to the scene in her first year in a Stonehill uniform and earned all-conference accolades after starting all 27 games and averaging 14.5 points, 4.7 assists and 3.1 rebounds. She reached double figures in 22 of 27 games and had five games of 20 points or more. She was named Northeast-10 player of the week following a pair of outstanding performances against Pace and Merrimack, where she made a combined 15 of 21 shots. Rousseau emerged as one the nation's best three-pointer shooters and at one point ranked second in the country in three-point accuracy. She had 12 games with at least two made three-pointers and made a career-high six in a win over St. Anselm. An excellent distributor, Rousseau had five or more assists in 14 games and had a career-best seven in two of the last three games of the regular season.
Tighe, meanwhile, had the best season of her career in 2008-09. She had three games of 20 points or greater, including a career-high 24 points in a win over Southern New Hampshire. Down the stretch of the season, Tighe became the Skyhawks top scoring option as she reached double figures in each of the last ten games. The nation's third-best free throw shooter at nearly 94 percent, Tighe is on her third streak of 10 or more consecutive makes from the charity stripe. In addition to her scoring, she posted eight double-doubles, good for fifth most in the Northeast-10. Closing in on 1,000 career points (952), she averaged 13.7 points and 8.4 rebounds while starting all 27 games. In fact, after not starting the first game of the season as a junior, she has started 58 straight games and Stonehill is a combined 46-12 (.793) since her insertion into the starting lineup.
Stonehill, which has won at least 20 games for the fourth straight season for the third time in school history, returns to action in the Northeast-10 tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday at Merkert Gymnasium at 7 p.m. against either Saint Rose or Saint Michael's.
