STANDISH, ME – The 2010-11 Saint Joseph's College women's basketball team awards have been released.

Head Coach Mike McDevitt '83 has announced that Ashley Geel '12 (St. George, Maine) has been selected as the team's Most Valuable Player, Alyssa Grigware '13 (Biddeford, Maine) has garnered Most Improved honors, Mackenzie Dufour '14 (Augusta, Maine) is the 2010-11 Best Defensive Player award recipient, and Skyler Makkinje '14 (Hillsboro, N.H.) has received the T.E.A.M. (Teamwork, Effort, Attitude, Motivation) Award.

Geel, a Third Team All-GNAC selection as a junior center, led the Monks with 11.6 points, 6.3 boards and 2.1 blocks per contest last winter. She paced the Royal Blue in scoring in 15 different contests – including a career high 26 against Mount Ida College on February 19th - and rebounding on 14 occasions while recording a pair of double-doubles in 27 games, all starts.

Grigware averaged 3.3 points and 2.4 caroms per game as one of the first players off the bench for the Monks last winter. She appeared in 15 games with 9.5 minutes of playing time per tilt as a first-year player and netted a season-high 14 points against Lasell College on February 12th.

Dufour served as the Monks' starting point guard in all 27 games last season and was an important cog in the team's success. She averaged 4.0 points, 4.1 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals per contest and ranked second in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) in both assists (111) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2) as a rookie. For her efforts she earned Maine Women's Basketball Coaches Association (MWBCA) All-Rookie Team honors and was named as the MWBCA Rookie of the Week on February 27th.

Makkinje played in 18 games while averaging 6.8 minutes per contest as a rookie. She averaged 0.8 points and 0.7 rebounds per tilt and netted a season-high five points against Pine Manor College on February 17th.

Saint Joseph's posted an 18-9 overall record, went 9-3 in GNAC play and earned the #3 seed in the conference tournament last winter under Coach McDevitt's watch. The Monks notched the program's first GNAC playoff win with a convincing 69-48 triumph over Emerson College on February 22nd before falling to Suffolk University, 71-62, in a conference semifinal contest two days later.

The 2010-11 team posted the most wins and the best winning percentage since McDevitt guided the 2001-02 squad to a 23-3 mark with a corresponding .885 winning percentage.