For Hollywood, award season doesn't fall until March 27th. But while the entertainment industry awaits the results of the Oscars, the ICC Women's Basketball team has already received their conference accolades and three players received some serious hardware.  

Sophomore guard Maisa Marcal was picked 1st team all conference and co-player of the year. Sophomore guard Delani Harris was all defensive team and honorable mention all conference, while freshman forward Valentina Ojeda was selected third team all conference. 

ICC head coach Jim Turgeon is very proud of his team, especially competing against high level talent throughout the KJCCC.

"This conference, with 13 teams, is ultra-competitive," Coach Turgeon said.  "And to have one player recognized, let alone three, is quite an accomplishment by our young ladies. They've worked very hard to put themselves in a position to win these awards."

For Marcal and Harris, both sophomores, he's seen them grow and evolve their games, while accruing a lot of wins in their careers. 

"When I got here Maisa always had the talent, she just needed to corral it a little bit. That's probably the number one thing she's improved on over the years. Sometimes when you have a player that talented, they're not very coachable but Maisa was very coachable and she was about the team. She wanted the team to win. It's really cool when you get a kid who's conference co-player of the year who's also such a good team player." 

"Delani is the same way," Coach Turgeon continued. "She is another kid who is a very talented, athletic player, but she simply wanted the team to do well and one of her jobs was to guard the other team's best guards and I think she did a wonderful job. She's a big reason why we won a conference championship." 

For his talented freshman, a third team all conference selection is something to be excited about. 

"Valentina's been good all year, but particularly late in the year she was just fantastic. A lot of freshmen are that way. It takes them a minute to figure out the college game, and for her it's different because it's the American game, because she's international. But once she figured the American game out, and the college game, she was sensational. I'm really fortunate that she's a part of our team." 

Looking at the team as a whole, and the season they had, Coach Turgeon remarked how many other players could have earned spots on these all conference teams, as well as those honored had sacrificed their individual stats for the team's success. 

"For a different team or if I had played her at the two (guard spot) Maisa could have easily averaged twenty points a game. But she sacrificed her points for the team. And really the same thing with all of our players. Mira (Khan), she only averaged seven or eight points per game, but if we focused on throwing the ball inside every single time she would have scored more. I am just so proud of the girls, they bought into the team concept, but that's how you win championships. I hope they learned that, and bring it forward to the teams they play for next, and in life." 

"Having players on these teams," Coach Turgeon added "It's something we can build on and show that you can come here and play at a high level and win awards. But quite frankly, we had three or four other girls that could have been on one of these teams. Or some of these girls, like Miriam (Bazylewicz) or Jill (Stephens), who came off the bench could have easily started for a lot of other teams. So it's really good for our program. I think people can see we are building a true program, and that every player is a part of it." 

The ICC Women's Basketball team finished the year 24-7 and regular season KJCCC conference champions. 

A full list of the conference awards can be found at https://www.kjccc.org/sports/wbkb/2021-22/releases/20220308f7tqd8.