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Somerset, NJ - Saint Francis U senior Jessica Kovatch (Phillipsburg, NJ) became the fourth member of an elite group by capturing the NEC Women's Basketball Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season.

Kovatch, the active leading scorer at the NCAA Division I level, joined Mount St. Mary's alumna Vanesssa Blair (1990, 1991), former Mountie Susie Rowlyk (1993, 1994) and Robert Morris graduate Aretmis Spanou (2013, 2014) as the only women in league history to win back-to-back NEC Player of the Year honors.

NEC regular season champion Robert Morris produce a pair of major postseason awards winners. Junior center Nneka Ezeigbo (Ewing, NJ) earned the NEC Defensive Player of the Year award while Charlie Buscaglia captured the Brenda Reilly NEC Coach of the Year accolade for the third season in a row.

Wagner's Taylah Simmons, a driving force behinds the Seahawks' turnaround, topped the vote results for the NEC's Most Improved Player award.

Meanwhile, LIU Brooklyn freshman forward Brandy Thomas (Baldwin, NY) has delivered the NEC Rookie of the Year award to Dekalb Avenue for the first time in a decade.

The Northeast Conference announced the major award winners along with three five-member all-conference teams and an all-rookie squad via Twitter, tipping off NEC Tournament Week on Monday, March 11. All honorees were selected through a vote of the conference's head coaches.

Kovatch has spent nearly four full years piling up points and accolades in Loretto. The senior shooting guard captured the conference's highest individual honor after leading the circuit in scoring average for the third year in a row. The four-time all-NEC honoree set the conference's career scoring record in January and proceeded the top the league in three-pointers for the fourth consecutive season. The Garden State product's 112 triples rank second overall amongst Division I leaders this winter. In terms of career rankings, Kovatch's 451 three-pointers made are second most in NCAA Division I annals. The former NEC Rookie of the Year (2016), who enters the 2019 NEC Tournament with 2,795 points to her credit, hit the 20-point mark in 20 of 30 games this season. She finished as the team's individual high scorer in all but three games and she thrice reached the 30-point plateau. Kovatch averaged 22.0 points per outing over the course of the 18-game conference schedule. In addition to her three-point shooting prowess, Kovatch was also money at the charity stripe. The 5-foot-9 scorer ranks second overall amongst NEC leaders in free throws (117) and third in free throw percentage (.848).

Ezeigbo was at the center of the conference's stingiest defense. With the light-footed 6-foot-2 forward patrolling the middle, the Colonials boasted the NEC's top-ranked scoring defense (55.1 ppg) along with the No. 1 field goal percentage defense (.373). Only once in 18 games did a conference opponent manage to eclipse the 60-point mark against RMU's Ezeigbo-led defense. The Garden State product, who ranked fourth overall amongst the NEC's leading rebounders (7.6 rpg), finished the regular season amongst the league's top-seven performers in both steals and blocked shots. Her team-high 1.3 blocks per game are fourth most on the NEC leader board while her 1.7 steals per outing represent the seventh-highest average. In addition to her defensive accomplishments, Ezeigbo was Robert Morris' top scorer this season at 12.2 points per appearance. She accounted for more than 0.5 point per minute of floor time.

Simmons' surge in performance has coincided with the Seahawks' surge up the NEC standings. After four consecutive last-place finishes, Wagner doubled its conference win total and earned a ticket to the postseason with Simmons stepping up as the team's leading scorer. Increasing her scoring average by more than 6.0 points per outing from the 2017-18 campaign, the Aussie-born baller accounted for 15.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game to rank amongst the league's top-10 leaders in both statistical categories. Against conference opponents, Simmons saw her averages rise to 17.9 points and 7.6 caroms per contests. She shot 51.5 percent against NEC foes, the sixth-highest percentage on the circuit. Simmons spearheaded the Seahawks' four-game win streak to open the month of February, eclipsing the 20-point mark in three straight outings. She set the team's single-game season scoring high on February 11 by pouring in 30 points during an 87-85 victory over NYC rival St. Francis Brooklyn. Simmons is Wagner's first-ever recipient of the Most Improved Player award, an honor that the NEC established beginning with the 2015-16 season.

Thomas, LIU Brooklyn's first NEC Rookie of the Year since Ashley Palmer (2009), was one of only two players on the entire circuit to average a double-double this season. The freshman forward accounted for a team-high 13.9 points per game, a mark that led all NEC rookies and ranked eighth amongst overall league leaders. Her 10.4 caroms per contest were good for second place on the conference leader board. Thomas' 15 double-double performances were the most amongst Division I freshmen this season. The six-time NEC Rookie of the Week set the conference's single-game seaosn high for points on February 11 against Mount St. Mary's. She made a single-game program record 16 field goals on the way to a 36-point night. Thomas is the first LIU Blackbird to average a double-double since 1993.

Buscaglia took the reins at Robert Morris prior to the 2016-17 season and the Colonials have known nothing but first place ever since. The three consecutive regular season first-place finishes have resulted in Buscaglia becoming the only person in league history to win three consecutive Brenda Reilly NEC Coach of the Year awards. Following a 1-7 start to the season, Buscaglia's Colonials rediscovered their defensive prowess and the wins began to pile up. Robert Morris ended the regular season by winning 18 of its last 21 games, including 16 of 18 conference contests. The Colonials limited NEC foes to 52.3 points per game and a collective .353 field goal percentage. Twelve of RMU's 16 league wins came by double-digit margins. Under Buscaglia's direction, Robert Morris paces the circuit in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, rebounding defense, steals and turnover margin.