Women's Teams / Men's Teams

TROY, N.Y. – The Liberty League has announced its year-end awards in women's and men's basketball and three Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes have been honored. Whitney Coleman was named the conference's Player of the Year and was a unanimous selection to the All-League First Team, while Allison Connor was named Honorable Mention. On the men's side, Ricky Philatre garnered All-League Second Team recognition.

Coleman, a graduate student and two-time captain out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was selected as the Liberty League's top player after posting a conference-best 17.6 points per game. Second in the league in rebounding (9.0 boards per game), defensive rebounds (6.28), assists (99) and assists/turnover ratio (1.10), she has recorded 10 double-doubles this season and has nine 20+ point games. A guard, Coleman also leads the Engineers in steals (58) and is second on the squad in blocks (29) and minutes average (33.2).

This is the second straight unanimous First Team selection for the former Etiwanda High School standout, who has posted 1,478 career points in 101 games. She is currently second in school history in points, needing 29 points to surpass Kaitlyn Saunders '05 as the program's career leader. An eight-time Liberty League Guard of the Week selection this season, Coleman is also eighth among career rebounding leaders at Rensselaer, having 660 boards.

A junior guard from Hudson, N.Y., Connor is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest. The only player to start all 25 games, she also has 29 assists, three blocks and 24 steals while averaging a team-best 34.6 minutes per game. Connor ranks second in the Liberty League in three-point field goals made (2.44) and is sixth overall in three-point field goal percentage (32.4%).

Connor, who is a graduate of Hudson High School, has played in 66 career games, averaging 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in that time. She is also a multiple Liberty League All-Academic and Dean's List selection.

Philatre, a senior forward from Randolph, Mass., led the Liberty League in rebounding, averaging 8.0 rebounds as a starter in all 24 games. He averaged 9.8 points per contest with 12 assists, 20 blocks and 24 steals for the Engineers (15-9; 7-7 Liberty League). In addition to leading the conference in offensive rebounds (3.38), the three-time Liberty League Forward of the Week selection added four double-doubles this season, and recorded a point or more in every game.

A former standout at Randolph High School, Philatre played in 96 career games for the Engineers, averaging 6.9 points and 6.5 rebounds. He also had 61 assists, 95 blocks and 65 steals.

The women's basketball team (15-10; 10-4 Liberty League) is the third-seed in this weekend's Liberty League Tournament, which will be hosted by Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. With a victory over second-seeded St. Lawrence on Friday (6pm), the Engineers would take on first seeded-Skidmore or fourth-seeded Hamilton in the championship game on Saturday (3pm). Live stats will be available at http://livestats.internetconsult.com/skidmore/wbball/index.htm.