Teams: Women's Basketball: Press Releases

HART, BAILY AND MOYNIHAN VOTED AMONG NESCAC'S BEST FOR 2008-09

NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year Kim Moynihan

MEDFORD -- Three members of the Tufts University women's basketball team have been selected by the conference's head coaches as among the best players in the league for the 2008-09 season. Sophomore point guard Colleen Hart (Needham, MA) was named to the All-New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) First Team, junior forward Julia Baily (Farmington, CT) is on the All-NESCAC Second Team and senior co-captain Kim Moynihan (West Hartford, CT) earned Defensive Player of the Year honors. All-Conference selections were announced today.

The performances of these players and others helped Tufts earn its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. The Jumbos play at Moravian in the first round on Friday night (Mar. 6) at 7:00 pm. Tufts is 21-4 overall and finished third in the league with a 7-2 mark.

Hart, the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and a Second Team pick last year, has had another fine season leading the Jumbos on the floor. With NCAA qualifiers Tufts, Bowdoin and Amherst still accumulating statistics, Hart is 12th in the league in scoring with 11.9 points per game. She led the team with 12.0 ppg in nine NESCAC games. Fourth in NESCAC with 4.36 assists per game, her 1.60 assist/turnover ratio ranks second. She is also the seventh-most accurate three-point shooter in the league with a .360 percentage (49/136) heading into NCAA's. The 49 trifectas are second-most in the conference. Hart is also very reliable defensively (tied for sixth in NESCAC with 1.92 steals per game), and at the free throw line, where she has scored on 32 of 38 attempts (.842) this season.

Baily, a key contributor during the team's run to the NCAA Tournament "Elite Eight" last year, blossomed into an All-Star this season. With an outside shot complementing her low post moves, she's currently sixth in the NESCAC with 13.0 points per game. She adds muscle as well, ranking second in the conference with 7.8 rebounds per game and 11th in blocked shots with a 0.74 average. In seven league games, she averaged 10.7 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds per game.

Moynihan is the team's second straight NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, following Khalilah Ummah from last season. Moynihan is the embodiment of the team's defense-first approach, giving it everything she has every time she steps out onto the court. Always assigned to guard the opponent's best scorer, Moynihan reliably and superbly performs the defensive tasks that don't show up on the stat sheet such as putting the pressure on in the passing lines, playing great help defense and taking charges. Putting her body on the line routinely, she's also a good rebounder as a guard. Also a big contributor to the offense, Moynihan averages 10 points per game (tied for 22nd in NESCAC) and is fifth in the conference with a .370 field goal percentage (34/92). Her 58 offensive rebounds are ranked among the NESCAC top 15.

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►2008-09 NESCAC Women's Basketball All-Conference Selections