Gwathmey, Cooper-Williams and Brooks Highlight Major CAA Awards

RICHMOND, Va. – Redshirt senior guard Jazmon Gwathmey has been unanimously selected as the 2016 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, the CAA announced Tuesday night. Freshman center Kayla Cooper-Williams is the league's Rookie of the Year and Head Coach Kenny Brooks is the CAA Coach of the Year for a third consecutive year.

Gwathmey, the third straight Duke to earn the CAA Player of the Year honor, is also a First Team All-CAA selection, alongside fellow senior guard Angela Mickens. Gwathmey and Cooper-Williams each earned spots on the All-Defensive team while Cooper-Williams was also placed on the CAA All-Rookie squad.

During her final campaign, Gwathmey led the league with 20.9 points per game as she scored in double digits 26 times, including a JMU-record seven straight 20+ point performances. She tallied 606 points over 29 games, the eighth-highest single-season total in JMU history, en route to 1,479 career points, becoming the league's leading active scorer and the 10^th-highest scorer in JMU history. She also moved into third all-time in JMU career blocks (166), tied for fourth in career games played (132), eighth in career field goals (548) and 14^th in career rebounds (714), all marks that lead the CAA amongst active players.

Cooper-Williams made her presence known in her first year as a Duke, competing in 28 games and starting 26 of those. She set a JMU freshman record for blocks with 63, a mark that ranks second all-time at JMU in single-season blocks, and led the CAA with 2.3 blocks per game. She also ranked fourth in the league with 8.1 rebounds per game, a mark she improved to 10.1 boards per contest during league play to rank second, as she became the first freshman in JMU history to have three straight contests with 15 or more rebounds. A four-time CAA Rookie of the Week, she also contributed 5.8 points per game and finished the regular season with back-to-back double-doubles.

Brooks earned his third consecutive and fourth overall CAA Coach of the Year title after leading the Dukes to a 24-5 record, including a 17-game win streak to close out the regular season with a 17-1 CAA mark. This is the 11^th straight season JMU has recorded at least 24 wins and the third consecutive year the Dukes have gone into the CAA Championship as the top seed. JMU ranks in the top 25 nationally in 13 statistical categories, including second in 3-point field-goal defense (.234) and third in rebounds per game (46.59). The Dukes began receiving votes in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls over the final weeks of the season.

An All-CAA First Team selection, Mickens led the league in assists per game (6.9) and total assists (200), marks that rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the nation. She is second all-time on JMU's career assists chart with 642, closing in on Jess Cichowicz's record of 670, and notched the third-highest single-season total in JMU history. This season, she added 1.8 steals per game to move into ninth on JMU's career steals chart (186).

JMU led the league in scoring offense (70.4 ppg), scoring defense (54.7 ppg) and rebounding margin (+10.6) to win the 2016 CAA regular-season title and earn the top seed for the CAA Championship. In program history, Dukes have tallied seven CAA Rookie of the Year honors, eight CAA Player of the Year nods and 10 CAA Coach the Year awards.

The Dukes enter the postseason, presented by Excel Heating and Cooling, on a 17-game win streak and open the CAA quarterfinals on Thursday, March 10, at noon against either No. 8 College of Charleston or No. 9 UNCW. The 2016 CAA Championship is being held at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md., for the sixth and final year.

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