The Patriot League women’s basketball regular season champions have another trophy to add to the case, or rather three. The Eagles claimed three of four major Patriot League awards on Tuesday Mar. 3. Senior point guard Jen Dumiak earned Patriot League Player of the Year while fellow senior guard Shaquilla Curtis was tapped as Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. Head coach Megan Gebbia, reigning Patriot League Coach of the Year, secured her second consecutive Coach of the Year award. The Eagles also placed three players, Dumiak, Michelle Holmes and Arron Zimmerman on the All-Patriot League team.
The All-Patriot League teams and major awards are voted on by the head coaches within the Patriot League and are prohibited from voting for their own team, player, or themselves.
Dumiak exceeded expectations this season by being named Player of the Year and being chosen unanimous First-Team All-Patriot League honoree. In the Patriot League women’s basketball preseason poll, Dumiak was voted preseason all-league, but Army junior guard Kelsey Minato was pegged as preseason Player of the Year.
At regular season end, Minato led the league and ranked 10th in the nation with 22.3 points per game, however Dumiak stats prove her to be a more complete player. Dumiak finished the regular season averaging 17.1 ppg, 6.1 assist, which is good enough for 16th in the country, 5.6 rebounds and 51.7 field goal percentage, along with an astounding 92.5 percent from the free throw line. Miniato turned the ball over about half as many times as Dumiak, and both had the about the same steal and block statistics. Where Dumiak distinguished herself is in her rebound and assist total. Dumiak outrebounded Miniato 163-to-112 and dished out a league leading 177 assists, compared to the Black Knight’s 68 assists.
Curtis will be taking home the 2015 Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, after starting just five games out of the 32 she appeared in last season. The high-energy 5-foot-9 guard has started every single game this season, totalling 872 minutes, a 342 minute increase from last season. Minutes is one of the many significant categories Curtis increased and improved on this year. Going into the Patriot League tournament she will have collected 142 rebounds (94 defensive, 48 offensive), 46 steals and 15 blocks. With Curtis commanding in the backcourt the Eagles had the second highest margin of victory in the league, +5.2, and held opponents to under 45 points four times.
Head coach Megan Gebbia followed up her first-year Coach of the Year performance with an even better sophomore season. With the graduation of three-time All-Patriot League team point guard Alexis Dobbs, Gebbia had large shoes to fill. She entrusted the role of point guard to Dumiak, who proved to be an excellence choice. Gebbia led the Eagles to a record of 21-8 (16-2 Patriot League), eclipsing the conference play win total of last season, 14-4. After starting the season 0-3, Gebbia led the Eagles to wins versus powerhouses Gonzaga and Oregon. The Eagles would go on to finish the season on a eight game win streak.
Offensive duo Arron Zimmerman and Michelle Holmes received nods for third-team All-Patriot League. Zimmerman finished the season averaging 9.7 points per game, while Holmes averaged 10.9 points per game.
The Eagles will host its Patriot League quarterfinal March. 6 at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena.
