NEW YORK (April 16, 2024) –
Abbey Hsu of Columbia University was selected the
All-Met Division I women’s college basketball Player of the Year as announced Tuesday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.
Carly Thibault-DuDonis of Fairfield University was selected the
Maggie Dixon Met Coach of the Year and
Meghan Andersen of Fairfield was named the
Rookie of the Year.
In addition to Hsu, the rest of
the All-Met First Team:
Janelle Brown, Fairfield; Kaitlyn Chen, Princeton; Unique Drake, St. John’s; Gigi Gonzalez, Stony Brook; Ny’Ceara Pryor, Sacred Heart.
The All-Met Second Team:
Meghan Andersen, Fairfield; Azana Baines, Seton Hall; Cece Collins, Columbia; Taylor Donaldson, Fordham; Ellie Mitchell, Princeton.
The All-Met Third Team:
Destiny Adams, Rutgers; Tenesia Brown, Fairleigh Dickinson; Khari Clark, Stony Brook; Kitty Henderson, Columbia; Madison St. Rose, Princeton.
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 2023-24 All-Met teams will be honored at the 91st MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner on Thursday, April 18, 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 5-11 senior guard from Parkland, FL, Hsu --- who also was named the Ivy League player of the year, a WBCA All-America Honorable Mention for the second consecutive season and an Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention --- is the second player from Columbia to earn the MBWA’s top women’s Division I accolade, preceded in 2017 by Camille Zimmerman. Hsu is the first Lion to receive two WBCA A-A selections and to earn both the WBCA/AP All-America laurels in the same season.
An All-Met First Team pick in both 2022 and 2023, and a Third Teamer in 2020 (Columbia sat out the 2020-21 season due to the Covid situation), Hsu led the Lions (23-7) to a 13-1 Ivy League mark in 2023-24, a co-share of the league’s regular season title and an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
She scored a league-best 611 points (No. 21 nationally) this season with an average of 20.4 points per game (No. 1 Ivy, No. 39 NCAA). She pulled down 220 rebounds for 7.3 rpg (No.3 Ivy), and added 62 assists (2.1 apg) and 34 steals (1.1 spg). Her 44.6% overall shooting accuracy was third-best in the Ivy circuit, while she led the league and was 42nd in the nation shooting 38.8% from 3-point range. She was No. 10 nationally with 3.00 treys per game.
Among the many records Hsu set, she is the Ivy’s No. 3 career-leading scorer with 2,126 points, and is No. 1 in the league for both career 3-pointers made (375) and 3-point goals in a single season (112). She ranks No. 1 in Columbia career annals for points scored (2,126), field goals made (751), 3-points goals (375) and career games played/started (123). She also holds a variety of program single game and single season records.
In just her second season as head coach, Thibault-DuDonis --- who also was named both the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and ECAC coach of the year --- guided the Stags to glittering heights: a 31-2 overall record, second most victories by a team in conference history; a perfect 20-0 MAAC regular season mark and title; the program’s fifth conference tournament championship; and a No. 25 Associated Press national ranking prior to entering Fairfield’s sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Along the way, FU recorded the second highest winning percentage (94.0%) in the nation, exceeded only by wholly unbeaten (38-0) NCAA champion South Carolina; and, toppled Rider, Canisius and Niagara en route to the conference tournament championship, before losing to fourth-seeded and homestanding Indiana in the first round of the NCAAs.
The Stags led the MAAC in both scoring offense (72.5 points per game) and defense (55.2), and had the 11th highest scoring margin (+17.3) in the nation.
Following her 15-15 seasonal coaching debut, Thibault-DuDonis’ overall record at Fairfield is now 46-17 (.730 W-L pct). This is the third time that the Stags have received the Maggie Dixon Coach of the Year accolade from the MBWA, following Dianne Nolan in 2001 and Joe Frager in 2022.
Thibault-DuDonis was a standout scholastic player at East Lyme (CT) High School, which is roughly 60 miles north of Fairfield University along the Connecticut coastline. She was a stellar All-NEC basketball player at Monmouth where, off the court, she was Valedictorian of the Class of 2013 with a 4.0 GPA as a Psychology major with a double minor in Spanish and Health Studies.
Prior to joining the Stags, Thibault-DuDonis had coaching stints at the University of Minnesota, Mississippi State, Eastern Michigan and Florida State. She is descended from and related to other basketball royalty: her father, Mike Thibault, is a former NBA and three-time WNBA coach of the year who is now general manager of the Washington Mystics, and her brother, Eric Thibault, is currently the Mystics head coach. She married husband Blake DuDonis in 2017.
A 6-1 freshman forward from Wantagh, NY, Andersen --- who also was named the MAAC rookie of the year --- started 32 of 33 games, led the Stags in scoring with 15.1 ppg (No.2 MAAC), and added 5.2 rebounds, 50 assists, 46 blocks and 44 steals. She shot 51.2% from the floor (No. 4 MAAC), 35.9% from beyond the arc (No. 8 MAAC) and 83.7% at the free throw line. Her 66 3-point goals were third-most in the conference and her 497 points were the second-most for a freshman in program history as she reached double figures in scoring 23 times while leading her talented team on 14 occasions.
Andersen is the first Fairfield player, men’s or women’s, to be selected MBWA Rookie of the Year.
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 16, 2024) – The 2023-24 All-Met Division I women’s college basketball team announced Tuesday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.
FIRST TEAM 
Janelle Brown, Fairfield • 5-6, Sr., G, Middle Island, NY
Kaitlyn Chen, Princeton •
5-8, Sr., G, San Marino, CA
Unique Drake, St. John's • 5-7, Sr., G, Columbia, SC
Gigi Gonzalez, Stony Brook • 5-8, Gr., G, Miramar, FL
Abbey Hsu, Columbia • 5-11, Sr., G, Parkland, FL
Ny'Ceara Pryor, Sacred Heart • 5-3, So., G, Baltimore, MD
SECOND TEAM
Meghan Andersen, Fairfield • 6-1, Fr., F, Wantagh, NY
Azana Baines, Seton Hall • 6-1, Gr., F, Blackwood, NJ
Cece Collins, Columbia • 6-0, Jr., G, Scranton, PA
Taylor Donaldson, Fordham • 5-10, Sr., G, Newbury Park, CA
Ellie Mitchell, Princeton • 6-1, Sr., F, Chevy Chase, MD
THIRD TEAM
Destiny Adams, Rutgers • 6-3, Jr., F, Manchester, NJ
Teneisia Brown, FDU • 6-2, Sr., F-C, Montego Bay, Jamaica
Khari Clark, Stony Brook • 6-2, Gr., C, Denver, CO
Kitty Henderson, Columbia • 5-10, Jr., G, North Curl Curl, Australia
Madison St. Rose, Princeton • 5-10, So., G, Old Bridge, NJ
Player of the Year: Abbey Hsu, Columbia •
Hsu Highlight Video
Rookie of the Year: Meghan Andersen, Fairfield
Coach of the Year: Carly Thibault-DuDonis, Fairfield