2024 MBWA AWARDS WOMEN'S DIV. III National Champ NYU's Bruns & Barber Claim Player, Coach Accolades

NEW YORK (April 9, 2024) – Natalie Bruns, who led New York University to an unbeaten (31-0) season and an NCAA Tournament national championship, was selected the All-Met Division III women’s college basketball Player of the Year for 2023-24 as announced Tuesday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.

Meg Barber of New York University was selected Coach of the Year for a third consecutive year and fourth time overall.
 

The rest of the All-Met First Team: Mia Castillo, Baruch; Alexa Charles, Hunter; Morgan Morrison, NYU; Belle Pelleccia, NYU; Damaris Rodriguez, NJCU; Jada Thompson, Ramapo    

The All-Met Second Team: Daniella Bessler, Yeshiva; Destiny Battle, St. Elizabeth; Megan Bauman, NYU; Tova Gelb, Vassar; Juliana Kascic, Manhattanville.

The All-Met Third Team: Neysa Aguilar, FDU-Florham; Alina Estrella, Brooklyn; Gigi Gamble, Kean; Kamryn Hammond, John Jay; Sierra McDermed, Vassar.

Being named All-Met is unique in that there are 35 colleges and universities and more than 500 players under the MBWA Division III women’s 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 6-1 senior forward from St. Louis, MO, Bruns --- who also was named the University Athletic Association player of the year and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association national player of the year --- set an NYU single-season record with 98 blocks and finished with a program
record 237 career blocks. Her 3.2 blocks per game ranked ninth nationally in NCAA Division III this past season.

Named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, Bruns scored in double figures in five of the six Violets NCAA games. Overall for the season on a powerhouse team, she averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals per game in addition to the 3.2 blocks. Shooting 82.5% at the free throw line, she became the 18th 1,000+ points scorer in NYU history, closing with 1,128 points.

Bruns, who was named All-Met First Team in 2023, represents the 11th time a Violet has been named Player of the Year since the MBWA began women’s accolades in 1996. The others: Marsha Harris, 1996-97-98; Jehan Clark, 1999; Rashida Allen, 2001; Rachel Wojdowski, 2004- 05; Jessica McEntee, 2007, 09; Janean Cuffee, 2020.

In her sixth season at the helm, NYU alum Barber --- who also was named MBWA Coach of the Year in 2020, ’22 and ’23, and the WBCA Division III national coach of the year in 2022 --- led the Violets (31-0, 14-0 UAA) to their third straight UAA title as the program claimed its second NCAA national championship (first in 1997). In posting a fourth straight 20+ wins season and tabbed the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAAs, the Violets led Division III in assists per game (19.4), were second in field goal percentage (49.5%), third in 3-point shooting (37.5%) and fifth in scoring margin (+27.4 points).

A 2002 graduate of New York University with a Masters degree in Sports Business from Temple, Barber’s coaching record over five active team seasons (the Violets did not compete in 2020-21 due to the Covid pandemic) is 119-21, an .850 won-loss percentage. Prior to joining NYU as head coach for the 2018-19 season, Barber --- a native of Hoosick Falls, NY --- held coaching positions at Temple and at William & Mary.