SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The University of New England women's basketball team received two major awards and landed three players on the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) all-league teams, as announced by CCC Commissioner Gregg Kaye Tuesday afternoon. Kelley Paradis (Newport, Maine) was voted Player of the Year, Kari Pelletier (South Paris, Maine) earned the distinction of Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year, while Margo Russell (Madison, Maine) and Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) landed spots on the all-CCC second team.

Paradis tops the Nor'easters in scoring at a clip of 13.2 points per game, and is second on the team in rebounding at 5.7 per outing. She is also averaging 3.0 assists, 3.3 steals, and 1.4 blocks. In CCC regular-season contests, Paradis ranked 3rd in steals and assist-to-turnover ratio, and in the top 10 for points, field goal percentage, assists, three-pointers made per game, and blocks. The recognition marks the third season on the all-CCC first team for the senior guard, who was also last year's Defensive Player of the Year.

Pelletier is a Dean's List student who will be graduating with honors come this May. She is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society, and of the CCC all-Academic team. The sport management major is currently applying her studies as an intern with the Maine Red Claws in the NBA Development League. She has also received the Outstanding Young Professional Award from the Maine Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MAHPERD).

As an athlete, Pelletier has been the only player to start all 25 games thus far, and averages 5.8 points per match. Her 2.8 steals is the second-best mark on the team, and she ranked 4th during the CCC regular-season in that category. The point guard far and away led the league in free throw shooting percentage during the 18-game league slate, connecting at an 85.2 rate from the line. She also dished out a career-high nine assists in the regular-season finale against Western New England.

Russell ranks third for UNE in scoring (10.8) and rebounds (5.0). In CCC games, she was second to only Pelletier in free throw percentage (81.1), and 3rd in shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Her two highest point totals of the year came in league contests -- 26 to match a career-high against Curry, and 25 against Western New England. For Russell, it is her second straight year with a spot on the all-conference team.

Suggs is second on the league's highest-scoring offense at 12.1 points per game, and leads the squad in both rebounding (8.2) and field goal percentage (47.4). During the 18 outings that make up the CCC regular-season, her statistics ranked in the top 10 in points and rebounds (3rd in offensive boards alone), and 1st in shooting from the floor (50.6). Coming into the season, Suggs' personal-best scoring output in a game was 18, a number she breezed past in a 24-point effort against Eastern Nazarene. She also established the sixth-highest single-game rebounding total in program history with 20 caroms at Curry.


For a complete listing of all the major award winners and all-conference teams, click HERE.