February 3, 2021

SUNYAC Women's Basketball All-Decade Accolades Announced

CORTLAND, N.Y. - The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) announces its Women's Basketball Athlete of the Decade, Coach of the Decade and All-Decade Team as nominated and voted on by the institution's sports information directors.

To be eligible for the All-Decade Team, athletes must have competed in the SUNYAC at least one season during the 2009-10 academic year through 2019-20 and athletes must have been named to the All-SUNYAC team more than once or named Athlete of the Year once. Athlete and Coach of the Decade recipients were previously named SUNYAC Athlete of the Year or Coach of the Year.

SUNYAC Women's Basketball Athlete of the Decade - Jessica Laing, Cortland
Laing was a forward for the Red Dragons from 2006-10. She was a three-time WBCA All-American (first team in 2010, honorable mention in 2008 and 2009), two-time D3hoops.com All-American (second team in 2010, third team in 2009) and the 2010 Jostens Trophy Award finalist (Division III National Player of the Year award). Laing was named the 2012 D3hoops.com East Region Player of the Year and was the ECAC Upstate NY Player of the Year twice (2009, 2010). She was named the SUNYAC Player of the Year back-to-back years (2009 and 2010), she was selected to the first team All-SUNYAC all four years of her career and she was named SUNYAC Rookie of the Year in 2007. She was the 2010 SUNYAC Tournament MVP as she helped lead her team to the SUNYAC title (also won the SUNYAC title in 2007). Cortland won at least 24 games in each of Laing's four seasons and went on to play in three NCAA tournaments (advanced to second round in 2007 and 2009). She was a four-time All-ECAC Upstate NY selection and the Red Dragons won the 2008 ECAC Upstate NY tournament.

In her career, Laing tallied 2,166 points (18.5/game), 1,305 rebounds (11.2/game), 77 double-doubles, 136 three-pointers and 79.8 free throw percentage in 117 games played. She is the SUNYAC and school career leader in points scored. She is second in SUNYAC (and school leader) in rebounds and she holds the school record in career fields goals (715) and free throws (600). Laing is ranked fifth at Cortland in career free throw percentage and she is the only player in NCAA Division III history to finish career with the combination of at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 100 made three-pointers. She was ranked 13th nationally in rebounding (12.4) and 15th in scoring (20.4) as a senior.

SUNYAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Decade - Jamie Seward, SUNY New Paltz
Seward led his team to five SUNYAC championships this decade (the only SUNYAC titles in program history). He was named the SUNYAC Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2019. He was also named the Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA DIII Region 2 Coach of the Year (2012-13) and the D3hoops.com All-East Region Coach of the Year (2018-19). Seward's record in the past decade is 250-88 overall and 182-64 in conference play (only two SUNYAC losses in the last two seasons). He guided his team to five NCAA tournament appearances, two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances (2017 & 2019) and made SUNYAC finals in six of the last 10 seasons. Seward coached four WBCA All-America honorable mention selections, three D3Hoops.com All-East selections, 21 All-SUNYAC selections, one SUNYAC Player of the Year, 10 SUNYAC All-Tournament team selections and five SUNYAC Tournament MVP selections.

2010's SUNYAC Women's Basketball All-Decade Team (PDF)

Name	School	Hometown / HS	Position	Years Competed
Liv Lebaron	Buffalo State	Corning, N.Y. / Corning East	Guard	2016-20
Staci McElroy	Buffalo State	Saratoga Springs, N.Y. / Saratoga Springs	Guard	2009-14
Bianca Smiley	Buffalo State	Amherst, N.Y. / Sweet Home	Forward	2011-14
Brittany Cohen	Cortland	Fayetteville, N.Y. / Jamesville-DeWitt	Guard	2010-12
Jessica Laing	Cortland	Bloomville, N.Y. / South Kortright	Forward	2006-10
Becky Hebert	Fredonia	Hilton, N.Y. / Hilton	Guard/Forward	2010-14
McKenna Brooks	Geneseo	Oswego, N.Y. / Oswego	Forward	2015-19
Melissa Graham	Geneseo	Orchard Park, N.Y./ Mt. Mercy	Guard	2010-13
Shannon McGinnis	Geneseo	Walworth, N.Y. / Gananda	Forward	2012-16
Allison McKenna	Geneseo	Huntington, N.Y. / John Glenn	Forward	2013-16
Lindsay Bettke	New Paltz	Pelham, N.Y. / The Ursuline School	Guard	2015-19
Rachel Simon	New Paltz	Walkill, N.Y. / Walkill	Guard	2017-19
Kit Small	New Paltz	Slingerlands, N.Y. / Academy of Holy Names	Guard/Forward	2013-17
Lyteshia Price	Oneonta	Liverpool, N.Y. / Liverpool	Forward	2012-16
Kathleen Payne	Plattsburgh	Goshen, N.Y. / Goshen	Guard/Forward	2010-14