Brooklyn, NY - Each of the women represents a different program, but the five members of the 2016-17 Preseason All-Northeast Conference Team all share two key commonalities in terms of on-court performance.

Robert Morris’ Anna Niki Stamolamprou (Thessaloniki, Greece), Sacred Heart’s Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, NY), Saint Francis U’s Jessica Kovatch (Phillipsburg, NJ), Bryant’s Ivory Bailey (Wyomissing, PA) and LIU Brooklyn’s Shanovia Dove (Palm Beach, FL) have all established themselves as prime scorers and are all threats to hit the three-point shot.

The NEC announced the five-member list of preseason honorees during the fifth annual #NECinNYC Basketball Social Media Day at Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn.

Kimmel is the lone preseason honoree to have earned All-NEC First Team status for the 2015-16 season. Stamolamprou, Kovatch and Bailey all received Second Team honors while Dove was a member of the Third Team.

The start of Kimmel’s collegiate career was pushed back two years by multiple injuries, but she has made it well worth the wait. When she finally saw the floor to start the 2013-14 season, Kimmel made immediate contributions and has since blossomed into one of the region’s most-feared two-way players.  The 6-foot tall do-it-all forward reached new heights during the 2015-16 campaign, becoming the fourth woman in SHU history to earn the NEC Player of the Year award.

Kimmel, who was also a finalist for the NEC Defensive Player of the Year award, shouldered the scoring load for the NEC regular season champion Pioneers last winter. Powering the Pioneers to a NEC Championship Game appearance and an ensuing Postseason WNIT berth, she averaged 16.4 points per game to rank fifth overall amongst conference leaders. Scoring average is one of seven major statistical categories - rebounding, steals, three-pointers made, three-point FG percentage, minutes played, double-doubles - in which Kimmel ranked amongst the NEC’s top-8 leaders last season.

Kovatch wasted no time in establishing herself as a point-scoring machine last season. Only three games into her rookie campaign, she became the first NEC freshman since Valerie Nainima (2006-07) to hit the 30-point mark. Kovatch proceeded to score at least 30 points in a game four more times during her the 2015-16 season and became the first first-year collegian in conference history to average more than 20.0 points per contest. Kovatch’s 20.9 points per contest stood as the top output by a NCAA Division I freshman last year. Her 3.16 three-pointers made per game average was ninth-highest in the country. The Garden State product, who captured the NEC Rookie of the Week award a record 14 times out of a possible 16, scored at least 20 points in 18 of 29 appearances.

Kovatch ranked amongst the top-5 league leaders in four categories -- scoring (2nd), three-point field goals (1st), steals (4th), and three-point field goal percentage (5th) -- and finished two triples (98) shy of becoming only the third woman in NEC history to make 100 shots from downtown in a single season. In addition to her record number of weekly rookie award, the Garden State product was twice named the NEC Player of the Week.

Stamolamprou is the lone foreign-born selection on the Preseason All-NEC Team and the only member of the group who owns a conference championship ring. The 5-foot-9 senior guard, who has been a part of two NEC title teams (2014, 2016), has averaged double figures in scoring during each of her first three collegiate campaigns and has set Robert Morris’ career record for three-pointers made in the process. Connecting thrice from downtown during last year’s NCAA First Round battle at UConn, Stamolamprou raised her career total to 210 three-pointers made and passed Jenna Burkett (208) for first place in program annals. The Greek-born combo guard paced the NEC champions Colonials in scoring (13.7 ppg) and assists (3.3 apg) last season, ranking amongst the top-10 NEC leaders in both categories.
Spearheading the Colonials’ run to the 2016 NEC Tournament crown, Stamolamprou averaged 17.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals per contest for a trio of postseason victories and captured the Most Valuable Performer (MVP) award as a result. The decorated leader, who has 1,301 career points to her credit, has earned a spot on the NEC All-Tournament Team in each of her first three seasons at RMU.  She capped off the 2015-16 academic year by capturing the NEC Scholar-Athlete award for her academic prowess and on-court success.

As a sophomore, Bailey proved her 2015 NEC Rookie of the Year award was no fluke. Highly-regarded by her coaches as a stalwart defender, the sophomore guard gave the Bulldogs’ a serious scoring option, too. En-route to a spot on the All-NEC Second Team, Bailey exceeded the 11.0 points per game mark for the second year in a row. The 5-foot-7 junior ranked amongst the conference’s top-15 leaders in scoring (11.3 ppg), assists (2.8 apg), steals (1.7 spg), rebounding (6.0 rpg) and free throw percentage (.826) one year ago. The Keystone State product played all 40 minutes of Bryant’s NEC quarterfinal victory over LIU Brooklyn, logging 12 points and eight assists.

Dove made the leap from contributor to primary scorer during her junior season in Downtown Brooklyn. Leading the Blackbirds in scoring (15.0 ppg), the 5-foot-8 guard saw her scoring average nearly double from her sophomore season when she tallied 8.0 points per contest. Despite missing four conference games due to injury, Dove finished the 2015-16 season as the conference’s seventh-leading scorer and her 55 three-point field goals tied for sixth amongst the league’s elite. The Florida product, who scored at least 20 points in four regular season NEC games, exploded for a career-high 28 points in the Blackbirds’ NEC Tournament quarterfinal tilt at Bryant. Dove, who logged two double-doubles against conference competition, ranked second on her team in rebounding (5.3 rpg).

2016-17 All-Northeast Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Team
Name                    School           Yr.    Pos.    Ht.    Hometown/High School
Ivory Bailey            Bryant           Jr.    G       5-7    Wyomissing, PA/Wilson
Shanovia Dove           LIU Brooklyn     Sr.    G       5-8    Palm Beach,FL/Palm Beach Lakes
Hannah Kimmel           Sacred Heart     Sr.    G/F     6-0    Harpursville, NY/Harpursville
Jessica Kovatch         Saint Francis U  So.    G       5-9    Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg
A Niki Stamolamprou     Robert Morris    Sr.    G       5-9    Thessaloniki, Greece