UB Women's Basketball Awards with two games remaining

Here are my Women's and Men's Basketball Player Awards with two games remaining this season.

Women's basketball team:

Most Vaulable Player: Kelly Keil (Senior) averaging 15 points per game, 8 rebounds per game and 2 blocks per game.

Comments: Her entire game has blossomed under First Year Head Coach Stephanie Del Preore. Keil has earned more playing time after being a backup forward/center last season. She has even said her confidence this season is higher than at any point last season. Keil has been named East Coast Conference player of the week three times this season and is a strong candidate for ECC Player of the Year award.

Most Improved Player: Elsebeth Birman (Sophomore) averaging 8 pts and nearly 5 assists per game this season.

Comments: Last season, Birman's role was to serve as the backup point guard to former UB standout guard Sidney Parsons. Birman struggled last year with consistency but Del Preore said that last summer Birman put in alot of hard work and it paid off as she has won the starting point guard role and leads the team in assists and is second on the team in steals.

Newcomer of the Year: Edna Marant (Junior) is averaging 8 pts per game and nearly 4 rebounds per game.

Comments: Marant started this season as the starting shooting guard for the Purple Knights but struggled early and was moved to the bench in December in order to loosen up her game. That transition help her as she has some of her best games of the season coming off the bench. Coach Del Preore said the move has seen Marant's jump shot improve as well as her overall confidence on the court.


More to come later.