Rochester, NY- The Sage Colleges' women's basketball team was honored on Thursday with the release of the 2017-2018 Empire 8 Women's Basketball All-Conference Awards. Sage's women's basketball coach staff was chosen the Coaching Staff of the Year, while three Sage women's team members were also honored. A first-year member of the Empire 8 Conference, Sage's women's basketball team secured the program's first bid to the Women's Basketball Championship after earning the No. 2 seed. Sage, which is 18-7 overall will open their post-season play on Friday night.

Sage will travel to St. John Fisher College for the 2018 Empire 8 Championship. The Gators will play on February 23 in the Empire 8 semifinals at 6 p.m. against the No. 3 seed Stevens. SJFC will take on the No. 4 seed Friday at 8 p.m. and the two semifinal winners will meet Saturday at SJFC at 4 p.m.

Sage, which is under the direction of Allison Coleman, who is now in her fourth season with the Gators. She has directed this year's team to an 18-7 overall record, while also posting a 12-4 mark in conference play. Joining Coleman on the bench this year is former Sage women's basketball player, Ashli Fragomeni and Bridget Carney. The 18 wins this season is tied for the third most in school history with the 2014-2015 team which went 18-8 under the guidance of Coleman in her first season at Sage.

Named to the First Team from Sage is senior forward Gen Schoff (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls).  Schoff becomes the first Sage female student-athlete to garner a First Team citation. Earning Second Team All-Empire 8 Honors is junior guard Emily Parslow (Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville), while junior guard Macie Holmes (Amsterdam, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy) earned All-Empire 8 Sportswoman Honors.

Schoff, who earned Empire 8 Player of the Week honors after a banner week that included setting an Empire 8 single-game free throw record with 18 made free throws, is the team's second leading scorer this season. She missed three games this season with an injury and now boasts a 14.9 ppg average, while adding 8.4 rpg on the boards with a team-best 28 blocked shots. She is Sage's No. 2 all-time player in points, rebounds, blocks and game played. Schoff has racked up 1,374 points, 857 rebounds, 124 blocks and has played in 105 games. She has scored double-digits in 72 of those games played, while making a program-best 399 free throws.

Parslow, who set a Sage single-season record last week with her 71 made three-pointers leads the Gators in scoring with her 377 points. She has added 96 assists with 29 steals in 25 games played and started. On her career, Parlsow now has 955 career points putting her in the No. 7 spot, while adding a single-season 71 three-pointers this year. She is now second in the Gator career three-point record category with 168.

Holmes, who is a 25-game starter for the team owns a 6.6 ppg average to go with her 34 made three-pointers. She has also handed out 57 assists Averaging 34.5 minutes per game, Holmes is also making her presence felt in the Gator career record book. She has scored 117 career three-pointers and is currently fourth all-time at Sage. She has also now played in 81 games at Sage, which stands 13^th best, while also collecting 538 career points.

Sportsmanship Team

In addition to the yearly awards and all-conference teams, one member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2017-2018 Women's Basketball Sportswoman of the Year Team.  Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.

EMPIRE 8 ANNOUNCES WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

Top Honors for Brown, Peebles, Hulbert, Li and Sage Coaching Staff

The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year awards for the 2017-18 women's basketball season. The conference coaches vote on the awards and all-conference teams.

Nazareth College's Samantha Peebles and Stevens's Institute of Technology's Megan Brown have been voted co-Player of the Year.

Peebles averaged 18.2 points per contest throughout the regular season, which ranked first among conference players, and her field goal percentage of .401 ranked fifth. She reached double-figures in points in 23-of-25 games and led the Golden Flyers in scoring on 15 different occasions. She completed her stat line with 5.7 rebounds, 2.84 assists and 1.8 steals per game. In conference only games, she averaged 17.4 points per games to rank second in the league and shot 36.7 perfect from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe.

Brown, the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year, was one of two players to average a double-double in conference play with 13.9 points and 10.9 rebounds. And she was the only Empire 8 player to average a double-double in overall play with 13.7 points and 10 rebounds per game. Brown started all 25 games, posted 11 double-doubles throughout the season and shot 45.3 percent from the field (129-of-285)

St. John Fisher College's Erin Hulbert has been named the Defensive Player of the Year. Hulbert started all 25 games and averaged 11.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.2 steals. Her 7.8 rebounds per game ranks sixth in the conference, while her 2.2 steals ranks third.  Hulbert was equally consistent in conference only games, averaging 7.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals.

Stevens' freshman Christina Li was voted the Rookie of the Year, marking the second time a Stevens player earned the honor and joins 2014 recipient Erica Guketlov. Li played in 21 regular season games and averaged nine points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. She reached double figures in scoring in eight games, including a season high of 28 points.  In conference only games, Li averaged 10.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

New to the Empire 8 Athletic Conference in 2017-18, the Sage coaching staff, headed by Allison Coleman, was chosen as Coaching Staff of the Year. The Ducks adjusted quickly to the new competition and went 12-4 in conference play and 18-7 in the regular season to earn the No. 2 seed in the Conference Tournament. The Gators averaged 65.5 points, 42.4 rebounds and 13.9 assists throughout the season.

One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2017-18 Women's Basketball Sportswoman of the Year Team.  Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen. 

Empire 8 2017-18 Women's Basketball All-Conference Awards 

Co-Player of the Year: Samantha Peebles, Nazareth

Co-Player of the Year: Megan Brown, Stevens

Defensive Player of the Year: Erin Hulbert, St. John Fisher College

Rookie of the Year:  Christina Li, Stevens Institute of Technology

Coaching Staff of the Year: Sage

First Team                                                                            

Name                          Team                   Pos.    Yr.     Hometown/High School                  

Rachel Benedict          Nazareth              F        So.     Brockport, NY/Brockport

Samantha Peebles       Nazareth              G        Sr.      Syracuse, NY/Westhill                     

Genevieve Schoff       Sage                     G/F    Sr.      Little Falls, NY/Little Falls  

Caroline Robertson     St. John Fisher     G        Sr.      Glen Head, NY/North Shore

Megan Brown             Stevens                G        Sr.      Laurel, MD/Laurel

Second Team                                                              

Name                          Team                   Pos.    Yr.     Hometown/High School                  

Danielle Cleary           Elmira                  G        Sr.      Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy

Carly Johnson             Hartwick              G        Jr.       Greenville, NY/Greenville

Brittany Lenart           Houghton            G        Jr.       Panama, NY/Panama

Emily Parslow             Sage                     G        Jr.       Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville

Erin Hulbert                St. John Fisher     G        Jr.       Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa

Honorable Mention (minimum three votes)                                                 

Name                          Team                   Pos.    Yr.     Hometown/High School                  

Christina Li                 Stevens                G        Fr.      Anaheim, CA/Fairmont Prep

Ashley Mayo               Utica                    G        Sr.      Bronx, NY/Nanuet

Sportswoman of the Year

Name                          Team                   Pos.    Yr.     Hometown/High School

Katlyn Boland            Alfred                  G        Jr.       New York, NY/A. Phillip Randolph

Brittany Boyce            Elmira                  G        Fr.      Tioga, PA/Williamson          

Alexa DuBois             Hartwick              F        Fr.      Hobart, NY/South Kortright

Leslie Moose               Houghton            G        Jr.       Swain, NY/Canaseraga

Lucille Dellos              Nazareth              G        Sr.      Johnson City, NY/Johnson City

Macie Holmes             Sage                     G        Jr.       Amsterdam, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy

Gillian Flint                 St. John Fisher     G        Fr.      Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford

Sydney Darby             Stevens                G        Sr.      Wall, NJ/Wall

Maggie Tabone           Utica                    F        Sr.      Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili