Alford Repeats as America East Player of the Year
March 1, 2012 | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2012
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - For the second consecutive year, junior Chantell Alford of the Boston University women’s basketball team was named America East Player of the Year as announced Thursday afternoon at the conference’s annual awards banquet.
The 5-8 guard is the first player in BU history to receive the award in back-to-back years and the sixth repeat winner of the conference's top honor. Alford also becomes the fourth player to claim the Rookie of the Year award in her first season followed by two straight Player of the Year accolades.
Alford was also named to the All-Conference First Team where she is joined by classmate Mo Moran. Sophomore Rashidat Agboola was the third Terrier to be honored, as she was named to the All-Defensive Team as well as the All-Conference Third Team. All three played a vital role in BU completing the regular season with a 22-7 record and 15-1 mark in AE play.
In just her third season at BU, Alford has already left her mark on the Terriers’ record books. She became the 20th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone in BU’s game at West Virginia on Dec. 3 and currently ranks eighth all-time in program history with 1,271 points, which also makes her the fifth active scoring leader in the conference. Her career-scoring average of 14.1 points per game is sixth in BU history and she is also tied for fifth with 159 career 3-pointers.
The West Haven, Conn., native leads BU’s balanced offense with 12.4 points per game, scoring in double-digits in 20 contests. She concluded the regular season ranked in the top five in the conference in numerous statistical categories including second in 3-point field goal percentage (.380) and steals per game (2.2) while ranking fifth in 3-point field goals per game (1.8). Her 87.5 free throw percentage ranks 19th in all of Division I.
After earning a spot on the All-Conference Second Team as a sophomore, Moran was named a First Team honoree this season alongside Alford. The Hopewell Junction, N.Y., native ranks second on the team with 11.0 points per game and reached the 1,000-point milestone in BU’s regular season finale at Hartford.
Moran has done a superb job protecting the ball while running BU’s offense, as her assist to turnover ratio of 1.7 is tops in the league. The guard is second in the conference with 4.2 assists per game and has dished out 376 helpers in her career, which ranks sixth in BU history. Moran’s durability has also been vital to BU’s success, as she is third in the AE with 36.3 minutes per game.
In just her first season as a starter, Agboola has established herself as one of the Terriers’ most valuable players en route to earning All-Defensive and All-Conference Third Team accolades. The sophomore shot 47.2 percent, which was the second highest field goal percentage in the AE, while averaging 10.2 points per game. She also tied for first with 8.6 rebounds per game, which places her second in the America East.
The Methuen, Mass., native led the Terriers with eight double-doubles on the season, including five in conference play. The 6’1 forward blocked 36 shots on the season to rank second in the league with 1.2 swats per game.
The road to the America East championship begins on Friday, March 2, as the top-seeded Boston University women’s basketball team takes the court for the quarterfinals on the University of Hartford’s campus in West Hartford, Conn. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. and the Terriers will face the winner of Thursday night’s play-in game between No. 8 Maine and No. 9 Stony Brook.
