Courtesy of the CACC

New Haven, Conn. (3/5/24)   Thomas Jefferson University standout Sam Yencha on Tuesday was named the 2023-24 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women's Basketball Player of the Year, as announced by Commissioner Dan Mara. Yencha, who was also named to the All-CACC First Team, was tabbed the league's top player as voted on by the league's 12 head coaches in the sport.

In addition to Yencha, Chestnut Hill College's Bridie McCann was named the CACC Rookie of the Year, Jefferson's Haley Meinel was named CACC Defensive Player of the Year for the second season in a row, and Jefferson Head Coach Tom Shirley was named the CACC Coach of the Year. Georgian Court University won the CACC Women's Basketball Team Sportsmanship Award.

Dominican University New York had two players named to All-CACC Teams as Cayla Howard (Naugatuck, Conn.) earned Second Team honors and Chidinma Ndukauba (Brooklyn, N.Y.) received Third Team honors.

Howard makes her first appearance on an All-CACC Team this year after earning one Player of the Week accolades and receiving six CACC Weekly Honor Roll mentions. She led the CACC and team in total points and points per game.  Howard was third in free throws, fourth in field goals, 11th in three point field goal percentage, 12th in total rebounds and three point field goals, 13th in defensive boards , rebounds per contest and field goal percentage and 18th in free throw percentage.

Ndukauba also earns her first All-CACC honors this year.  She was named to the CACC Weekly Honor Roll twice this season.  Ndukauba was fourth in the CACC in blocks, fifth in rebounds per game, sixth in total rebounds, seventh in both offensive and defensive rebounds, 10th in field goal percentage, 12th in field goals, 14th in points per game and 16th in total points.  She led the Lady Chargers in blocks.

Yencha has averaged a double-double this season of 16.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game in helping to lead the Rams to a perfect 16-0 mark in CACC play, the South Division Championship and just one loss taken during the regular season. She leads the CACC with 458 points and ranks fourth in scoring per game. She also tops the conference in field goals made (188) and field goal percentage (58%). Yencha has scored in double-figures in every game this season and has logged 18 double-doubles.

McCann ranks 8th in the CACC with 14.9 points per game. She was also named to the All-CACC First Team. McCann ranks fourth in the CACC in three-point percentage at .418 and her 137 field goals made is the ninth best mark in the conference.

Meinel, who was also placed on the All-CACC First Team, leads the CACC with 115 steals and ranks second with 40 blocks. She has recorded multiple steals in all but three games this season.

Shirley has led Jefferson to a top-10 national ranking this season and a regional spot in the latest NCAA Division II East Region rankings that determine qualification and seeding in next week's NCAA Division II East Region Tournament at a site to be determined.

2023-24 CACC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE THIRD TEAM
Rory Ciszkowski (Goldey-Beacom College)
Lucy Coogan (Caldwell University)
Stephanie McBride (University of Bridgeport)
Chidinma Ndukauba (Dominican University)
Taneshia Tucker (Bloomfield College)