2023 MBWA AWARDS<br>WOMEN'S DIVISION I<br>Repeat! Seton Hall's Park-Lane Picks Up 2nd Player of the Year; Columbia's Griffith Gets Top Coach - Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Skip To Main Content

Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association

Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
Home of the Haggerty Award
Lauren Park-Lane, 2022-23 All-Met Women's Basketball Player of the Year
Lauren Park-Lane, 2022-23 All-Met Women's Basketball Player of the Year

2023 MBWA AWARDS
WOMEN'S DIVISION I
Repeat! Seton Hall's Park-Lane Picks Up 2nd Player of the Year; Columbia's Griffith Gets Top Coach

4/25/2023 8:30:00 AM

By: Chuck Stogel, MBWA, 914-428-6111, chstogel@aol.com

NEW YORK (April 25, 2023) – Lauren Park-Lane of Seton Hall University was selected the All-Met Division I women’s college basketball Player of the Year for a second consecutive season as announced Tuesday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.

Megan Griffith of Columbia University was selected the Maggie Dixon Met Coach of the Year, while Ny’Ceara Pryor of Sacred Heart University was named the Rookie of the Year.

In addition to Park-Lane and Pryor, the rest of the All-Met First Team: Anna DeWolfe and Asiah Dingle, Fordham; Jayla Everett, St. John’s; Abbey Hsu, Columbia.

The All-Met Second Team: Kadaja Bailey, St. John’s; Juana Camilion, Iona; Sidney Cooks, Seton Hall; Dee Dee Davis, Manhattan; Kaitlyn Davis, Columbia; Chloe Wilson, Fairleigh Dickinson.

The All-Met Third Team: Callie Cavanaugh, Fairfield; Alyssa Fisher, St. Francis Brooklyn; Sabria Hunter, Army West Point; Kate Mager, Iona; Kaylene Smikle, Rutgers; Annie Warren, Stony Brook.

Being named All-Met is unique in that there are 21 colleges and universities and more than 300 women’s players under the MBWA Division I umbrella.

The 2022-23 All-Met teams will be honored at the 90th MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner on Thursday, April 27, at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center in Tarrytown, NY. The Haggerty dinner is the longest running, media-managed college basketball awards program in the United States.
 
A 5-3 senior guard from Wilmington, DE, Park-Lane was named to both the All-Met and Big East Conference First Teams for a third consecutive year. She is just the third back-to-back and fourth two-time Met women’s player of the year since the MBWA inaugurated women’s awards in 1996. She follows in the footsteps of a trio of multiple honorees from Rutgers: Cappie Pondexter, 2003-04-05-06; Shawnetta Stewart, 1999-00; and Tasha Pointer, 1997, 2001.

She also represents the third player from Seton Hall to be selected All-Met Player of the Year. Pirates previously so honored: Dana Wynne, 1997; Ka-Deidre Simmons, 2015.

Park-Lane went on a record-setting tear for her senior season with the Pirates (19-15, 10-10), during which she scored a school-record 686 points (ninth-best in the nation), averaged 20.8 ppg (3rd in Big East, No. 14 in NCAA Division I); had 207 assists (8th in nation), 6.3 per game (2nd Big East, No. 12 NCAA). She also had 40 steals, shot 40.0% from the field, 77.9% at the free throw line, scored in double figures 30 times, 20+ points on 17 occasions and 30+ points in seven games.

On Feb. 13 against DePaul, Park-Lane erupted for a career-high 39 points to set The Hall’s single-game scoring record. In SHU’s first round WNIT victory over Saint Joseph’s, she set the school record for points in a quarter with 19 in the first period and tied the Pirates single-game mark for an NCAA or WNIT game with 30 points overall. She scored 36 points against Creighton in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament, a program record for points in a game in that event.

For her collegiate career, Park-Lane is Seton Hall’s all-time leader in assists with 698 and is No. 2 on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,905 points, trailing only Tabatha Richardson-Smith’s 1,925 (2012-13 to 2015-16).   1180

In her seventh year as head coach, Griffith also was named the Ivy League coach of the year after leading Columbia (28-6, 12-2 Ivy) to its winningest regular season (23-4) and a share of the program’s first Ivy League title as the Lions tied with Princeton atop the standings. It was the third consecutive competitive season (the school did not play in 2020-21 due to the Covid pandemic) that Columbia qualified for the Ivy Tournament.

The Lions received an invite to the WNIT postseason event, and went on a tear. Columbia won five games in the tournament before losing in the championship contest. The team defeated Bowling Green on the road 77-70 in the national semifinals before falling 66-59 at Kansas in the finale.

Columbia produced the 15th most potent offense in NCAA Division I this past season with 78.2 points per game. The Lions were No. 14 in scoring margin (+14.9), No. 4 in assists (8.9), No. 9 in rebound average (43.12) and 12th in 3-point field goals made per game (8.9).

A native of King of Prussia, PA, who played basketball for and graduated from Columbia (2007), Griffith is now the winningest coach in the women’s program history. Her career won-loss record as a head coach over six competitive seasons is 99-77 (.563 W-L pct).  1176

A 5-3 guard from Baltimore, MD, Pryor is the first freshman in Sacred Heart program history and Northeast Conference annals to earn NEC player of the year, Defensive player of the year and rookie of the year in the same season. She also was selected on the All-ECAC First Team after leading the Pioneers (19-14, 12-4 NEC) to their first conference tournament title and first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2012.

Pryor led the NEC in scoring with 586 points and 17.8 ppg, and in assists with 143 overall and 4.3 per game. She led the nation with 122 steals, a 3.7 per game clip. She also hauled in 6.8 rebounds per game, sixth-best in the NEC. Shooting 43.2% from the field, Pryor recorded six double-doubles and posted double figures in scoring in every game, including 20+ points on 15 occasions.

For a list of previous Women's Division I Awards:
Players of the Year - Coaches of the Year - Rookies of the Year

SUMMARY
NEW YORK (April 25, 2023) – The 2022-23 All-Met Division I women’s college basketball team announced Tuesday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.       1179

FIRST TEAM
Anna DeWolfe, Fordham  •  5-8, Sr., G, Cumberland, ME
Asiah Dingle, Fordham  •  5-6, Gr., G, Boston, MA
Jayla Everett, St. John’s  •  5-10, Sr., G, St. Louis, MO
Abbey Hsu, Columbia  •  5-11, Jr., G, Parkland, FL
Lauren Park-Lane, Seton Hall  •  5-3, Sr., G, Wilmington, DE
Ny’Ceara Pryor, Sacred Heart  •  5-3, Fr., G, Baltimore, MD

SECOND TEAM   
Kadaja Bailey, St. John’s  •  6-0, Sr., G, Long Beach, NY    1178
Juana Camilion, Iona  •  5-10, Sr., G, Palma de Mallorca, Spain   
Sidney Cooks, Seton Hall  •  6-4, Gr., C, Kenosha, WI
Dee Dee Davis, Manhattan  •  5-8, Sr., G, Bronx, NY
Kaitlyn Davis, Columbia  •  6-1, Sr., G/F, Norwalk, CT
Chloe Wilson, Fairleigh Dickinson  •  5-10, Jr., F, Freeport, NY

THIRD TEAM
Callie Cavanaugh, Fairfield  •   6-1, Gr, F, Holyoke, MA
Alyssa Fisher, St. Francis Brooklyn  •  5-8, Sr., G, Baton Rouge, LA
Sabria Hunter, Army West Point  •  6-1, Sr., F,  Austintown, OH   1177
Kate Mager, Iona  •  5-9, Gr., G, New City, NY
Kaylene Smikle, Rutgers  •  6-0, Fr., G, Farmingdale, NY
Annie Warren, Stony Brook  •  5-8, Gr., G, Atlanta, GA     

Player of the Year: Lauren Park-Lane, Seton Hall  •  Park-Lane Highlight Video
Rookie of the Year: Ny’Ceara Pryor, Sacred Heart 
Coach of the Year: Megan Griffith, Columbia

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