DANBURY, Conn. – Elon University women’s basketball head coach Charlotte Smith has been tabbed the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Coach of the Year, the organization announced Thursday morning, March 23. Additionally, junior guard Shay Burnett has been named an All-ECAC Second Team honoree.
Smith becomes the first Elon head coach to earn ECAC Coach of the Year to date. In her sixth season at the helm of the program this year, she was named CAA Coach of the Year while guiding Elon to a 27-7 record, the program’s first Division I conference regular season and tournament titles and its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Along the way, she picked up her 100th career victory in a 75-65 win over Drexel back on Jan. 15 and became the third-winningest coach in team history at the end of January after a road win at Hofstra.
Elon’s leading scorer during the 2016-17 season, Burnett earned All-ECAC Second Team recognition by averaging team highs with 12.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game throughout the year. She also added a team-high 54 steals and shot 45.8 percent from the floor, including a 39.4 percent clip from three-point land. The junior scored a team-high 23 points on the road against UNCW back on Feb. 5, the same day she became the program’s 22nd player to reach the 1,000-point club. Burnett had six games throughout the season in which she scored at least 20 points, the last coming on March 10 in the CAA Semifinals when she helped lead Elon to a 28-point win over William & Mary to advance to just the second Division I conference title game in program history.
At season’s end, Burnett was also tabbed All-CAA First Team for the second consecutive season. The junior is the first back-to-back all-conference first teamer for the Phoenix since Ali Ford in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Elon finished the 2016-17 season last Friday, March 17, with a 75-62 loss to sixth-seeded West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament in College Park, Md. Burnett led the Phoenix in its first tournament appearance with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting in 34 minutes. With 27 victories on the campaign, the number shattered the previous Division I program record of 20 wins back in 2010-11 and the 16 CAA wins topped the previous record of 14 in Southern Conference play back in 2012-13.
2016-17 ECAC Division I Major Awards and All-Star Selections
Player of the Year: Precious Hall – James Madison University, R-Sr.
Rookie of the Year: Rebekah Hand – Marist College, Fr.
Coach of the Year: Charlotte Smith – Elon University
All-ECAC First Team
Feyonda Fitzgerald – Temple University, Sr.
Precious Hall – James Madison University, R-Sr.
Michelle Nwokedi – University of Pennsylvania, Jr.
Alexis Peterson – Syracuse University, Sr.
Teniya Page – Penn State University, So.
All-ECAC Second Team*
Katie Benzan – Harvard University, Fr.
Shay Burnett – Elon University, Jr.
Amy Griffin – La Salle University, Jr.
Jessica Kovatch – Saint Francis University, So.
Nia Marshall – Cornell University, Sr.
Imani Watkins – Binghamton University, Jr.
*Additional player added due to tie