 3/1/07 -- Long
Island University freshman Valerie Nainima (Suva, Fiji) became
the first player in Northeast Conference women’s basketball
history to be named both Player of the Year and Rookie of the
Year, the conference announced today. The 5-foot-5 guard was
selected as the top player in the league in a vote of NEC coaches.
Blackbirds head coach Stephanie V. Gaitley was also recognized
by her peers, earning Coach of the Year honors.
Nainima finished fifth in the NEC in scoring, averaging 17.3
points per game in her inaugural campaign in Brooklyn.
The Fiji native
also ranks second in the conference in three-point percentage
(.420) and third in both three-pointers made (2.07 per
game) and free-throw
percentage (.853). Nainima was named the NEC Rookie of the Week
a record-breaking 10 times, including five consecutive weeks
from Jan. 15 to Feb 12.. She led the Blackbirds in scoring on 21
occasions, and surpassed the
20-point mark 10 times.
Nainima netted a career-high 30 points in Long Island’s first
win of the season, a 78-46 romp over Siena on Nov. 20 that kicked
off a six-game win streak. In Long Island’s 68-64 loss at
Robert Morris on Feb. 22, she put the Blackbirds on her back and
scored 29 points as the team nearly erased a 21-point deficit.
Nainima shot 12-for-12 from the line in that game and followed
up that performance with a 4-for-4 mark in Long Island’s
top seed-clinching win at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 24. In
that contest, she hit for 22 points, grabbed eight rebounds and
dished
out a season-high six assists. Nainima has currently converted
17 consecutive chances from the charity stripe.
The freshman finished the regular season averaging 4.1 rebounds,
2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. She was also named to the
PrestoSports/Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Honor
Roll on Feb. 26. Nainima is the second Blackbird to earn NEC Player
of the Year honors; Tamika Dudley took home the award
following
the 2001-02 season. Kim Mac Millan is the only other Long Island
player to earn the NEC Rookie of the Year award, winning the
award in 1999-2000.
After guiding the Blackbirds to a record-breaking regular season,
Gaitley becomes the second Long Island coach to be named NEC
Coach of the Year. Picked to finish fifth, Long Island captured
the top seed in the conference. Gaitley oversaw the Blackbirds
as they achieved program highs in wins for the season (22), conference
victories
(15)
and non-conference wins (7). Long Island’s 22-7 mark is
the best in school history, surpassing the previous high-water
mark of 19-4
set by the 1976-77 squad. Gaitley also saw her team rattle off
a program-record 13-game winning streak as the Blackbirds’ perfect
10-0 January carried over into February. Patty Delehanty, in
1999-2000, was the only other Long Island coach to be recognized
by the NEC.
The Blackbirds will host eighth-seeded St. Francis (N.Y.) in
NEC quarterfinal action at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic
Center
on Saturday, March 3 at 2:00 p.m.
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