Marino Earns HVIAC Co-Rookie of the Year, Carbone Co-Coach of the Year, Three Lady Bears Named to All-Conference Team
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Three St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) women's basketball players and their head coach earned conference awards as they capped off a 17-10 season in 2014-15 with a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) championship win Sunday.
Freshman Destiny Marino (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King) also earned HVIAC Co-Rookie of the Year accolades along with Vaughn's Maia Rivers. Lady Bears head coach Frank P. Carbone was tabbed HVIAC Co-Coach of the Year along with New Rochelle's Joan Sanchez, with all voting conducted by the conference's head coaches.
Marino, along with senior forwards Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) were all selected to the HVIAC All-Conference team for their performance all season.
This is the first time Retas has won All-HVIAC honors in her career. The senior led the team with 13.4 points per game, which was ninth in the HVIAC. She also corralled 12.7 rebounds per contest and 14 total double-doubles, both good for second in the conference. Along with that, she was third with a field goal percentage of 41.5 percent.
During the season, Retas eclipsed both 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds and became the all-time leading rebounder and shot blocker in school history. She was named the HVIAC Tournament's Most Valuable Player following Sunday's 74-63 win over Albany Pharmacy after averaging 24.0 points and 15.0 rebounds over the tourament.
Raccuglia takes home All-Conference honors for the second straight season. The senior averaged a career-best 13.0 points (No. 10 in the HVIAC) and 7.7 rebounds per game (No. 9 in HVIAC) along with 3.0 assists (No. 5 in HVIAC) and a conference-best 2.5 blocks per game. She also connected on 41.3 percent of her shots, which was fourth in the HVIAC.
Marino averaged 12.2 points per game in conference play for the Lady Bears. The four-time HVIAC Rookie of the Week ranked third on the team in scoring, logging double figure scoring in a team-high 20 games. She also was ranked first shooting 43.8% from the field and second in the conference with 4.1 assists per game.
Carbone led the Lady Bears to a 17-10 record, the third straight season with 15 wins or more. Under his tutelage, the Lady Bears captured their second HVIAC championship in three years and sixth title in school history.
In preparation for the the program's ninth bid to the USCAA National Championships, the Lady Bears will conclude their regular season tomorrow against Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology with tip time of 7 p.m. in Newark, N.J. Live stats and video are available on SJCBears.com.
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2014-15 All-HVIAC Women's Basketball Team
| Natali Basoski | Pratt | Fr. | C | Ohrid, Macedonia |
| Jah-Leah Ellis * | New Rochelle | Sr. | F | Harlem, N.Y. |
| Champagne Hazel | Berkeley | Jr. | F | Harlem, N.Y. |
| Destiny Marino | St. Joseph's | Fr. | G | Middle Village, N.Y. |
| Patricia Patterson | Berkeley | Sr. | F | Brooklyn, N.Y. |
| Alyssa Pechin % | New Rochelle | Sr. | G | Yonkers, N.Y. |
| Cianna Peterson | Vaughn | Jr. | G | Detroit, Mich. |
| Julia Owen | Yeshiva | Jr. | F | Seattle, Wash. |
| Taylor Raccuglia * | St. Joseph's | Sr. | F | Brooklyn, N.Y. |
| Samantha Retas | St. Joseph's | Sr. | F | Brooklyn, N.Y. |
| Alexa Schooley ** | Albany Pharmacy | Sr. | F | Auburn, N.Y. |
| Megan Serley | Albany Pharmacy | Sr. | G | Oriskany, N.Y. |
| Taylor Sullivan ** | Albany Pharmacy | Sr. | F | Troy, N.Y. |
* Denotes 2012-13 All-Conference Team Selection
** Denotes 2012-13 and 2013-14 All-Conference Team Selection
% Denotes 2011-12 and 2013-14 All-Conference Team Selection
Player of the Year - Jah-Leah Ellis (College of New Rochelle)
Co-Rookies of the Year - Destiny Marino (St. Joseph's College), Maia Rivers (Vaughn)
Co-Coaches of the Year - Frank P. Carbone (St. Joseph's College), Joan Sanchez (College of New Rochelle)