Hofstra University Head Basketball Coach Felisha Legette-Jack has been named the 2003-2004 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Coach of the Year, it was announced at the CAA Awards Banquet on Tuesday evening in Norfolk, Virginia. Legette-Jack, who has coached the Pride to a regular season mark of 14-13 overall and 11-7 in the CAA, guided Hofstra to a tie for second place in the regular season and a third seed in the conference tournament after being picked seventh in the preseason poll.
In addition to Legette-Jack, three players were also honored on Tuesday evening. Junior forward Amaka Agugua (Herndon, VA/Oakton), the Pride's top scorer and rebounder, earned second team All-CAA honors. Senior guard Staceyann Claxton (Hempstead, NY/Monsignor Scanlan) received two awards as she was named to the All-Defensive Team and also was a member of the All-Academic Team. Senior guard Urszula Smolarek (Gorzow, Poland/Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace) was the third member of the Pride honored as she also received All-Academic Team accolades.
In only her second season at the helm of the Hofstra Women's Basketball program, Legette-Jack guided the Pride to only its fourth winning regular season since Hofstra became Division I in 1982-1983. The 11 conference wins this season were three more than any previous Hofstra team had won in a single season. Currently, Hofstra ranks 14th in the nation in top turnarounds, as the Pride have already won six more games then they won all of last season. Legette-Jack orchestrated this turnaround with a roster that includes five freshmen who average at least 14.8 minutes per game.
Agugua earns second team honors after finishing the regular season with team-highs of 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Agugua started 24 of the 25 games she played in, averaging 27 minutes per contest. She ranks 17th in the CAA in scoring, first in field goal percentage (57.4 %), 11th in rebounding, ninth in blocked shots (0.72), 8th in offensive rebounds (2.52) and 14th in defensive rebounds (4.04).
Claxton picks up All-Defensive Team accolades and was also named to the All-Academic Team. Claxton played in all 27 of the Pride's game this season, starting 25. She leads Hofstra in assists and steals with 91 and 64, respectively. She is also the team's fourth leading scorer at 7.9 points and has pulled down 3.4 rebounds per game. She ranks eighth in the conference in assists, sixth in steals and 11th in assists/turnover ratio.
For a complete list of award winners, please visit the CAA website at www.caasports.com.
Hofstra opens play in the CAA Championship on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals against sixth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth University.
