Albany, NY–The Sage Colleges' department of athletics recently announced the recipients of the department's annual awards.  Named the 2019-2020 Sage women's basketball Gator of the Year was senior guard Gessica Patregnani (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh).

Head women's basketball coach Allison Coleman noted, "Gess has been a key player in this program since she stepped foot on campus four years ago." She continued, "She has been the ultimate teammate and only wants to see the team succeed regardless of her personal accomplishments.  She is looked up to by her teammates on the court, a great student off the court and one of the most coachable players that has been through this program."

As a senior captain on the team, she helped Sage garner the No. 2 seed in the E8 tournament and a berth in the league's championship game. She was a leader from downtown for the Gators in 2019-2020 as she spent nearly a month leading the nation and Division III with her accurate three-point shot.  She started 26 games and led the team with her 49 made three-pointers and 45.4% shooting from downtown. Patregnani chipped in a personal-best 238 points, good enough for a 9.2 ppg average. She added 3.2 rpg and led the team with 33 steals. Along the way, she also collected a season-best 20 points in the team's win over Westfield State and scored in double digits 14 times in her final year. She capped the year with a selection to the Empire 8 Sportswoman Team.

The Gators advanced to the championship game for the first time, earned the league's runner-up trophy after an impressive 15-12 mark with a 10-4 record in conference play.

Over the course of her career, Patregnani scored 156 career three's, which is No. 4 at Sage, while also finishing with 729 points and is No. 18 on the career scoring list. She also added a 39.1% career three-point percentage. Her season 3-point shooting percentage is the second best effort in the Gator single-season record book. She also played in 103 games at Sage, which is sixth best at Sage.

She was a business administration major at Sage and earned Dean's List acclaim and is also a Sage Scholar-Athlete and was also honored with her second selection to Sage's Athletic Honor Society this spring.