Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Lincoln piles up awards in CIAA
The CIAA tournament week kicks off every year with an awards banquet honoring the top performers of the year in both men’s and women’s basketball. Lincoln University featured prominently in this season’s ceremony, with the Lions coming home with honors for Women’s Coach of the Year, Women’s Player of the Year and Men’s Defensive Player of the Year, along with another three players landing on All-Conference teams.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the CIAA Basketball Coaches and Sports Information Directors associations.
Darrell Mosley, who played collegiately at Lincoln and was an assistant men’s coach for the Lions under John Hill, is in his fifth season at the helm of the Lincoln Women’s program. Mosley is just the second Lincoln coach to win Coach of the Year honors, joining Jessica Kern, who won in 2015.
“It’s an honor and a blessing to win this award, especially as a male coach in women’s basketball,” said Mosley. “I’m not sure the last time a male has won. But
honestly, it’s more important to me to see the team awards recognizing the players. Without their hard work and efforts, along with the work of my staff, Alishia Mosley and Cherelle Dennis, we wouldn’t be where we are.”
Mosley caught a glimpse of things to come last season, when the Lions posted a record of 17-14, and played themselves into the semi-finals of the conference tourney.
“Last season, we lost a lot of players to injury and eligibility, and found we were still able to compete,” said Mosley. “With the players we had coming back, and the recruits we had coming in, we knew we had something. We focused on recruiting better people and better students, and the result was a solid group with great chemistry.”
The Lions set a program record for wins this season, finishing at 235, including a program record 10game winning streak. Lincoln was especially good at home, going 14-1 in front of the Lion faithful, highlighted by a 30-point win over a Virginia Union team ranked No. 5 in the nation at the time. By record, the Lions were tied for first place in the CIAA Northern division.
“I really thought that we’d be cochampions,” said Mosley. “But a new formula in the conference left us in second.”
Lincoln entered the conference tournament with the number two seed, but was upset on Thursday in its first game in Charlotte.
The Lion women are led by senior guard Kwanza Murray, who was named the CIAA Women’s Player of the Year.
“I am very thankful and blessed to be honored with the Player of Year award,” said Murray. “I know the kind of work I put in to be the best player and teammate I can be, and it’s humbling to be honored for that work.”
Murray, whose inclusion on the AllCIAA team makes her just the second Lion to be named all conference in back to back seasons (Zephrah Pam 2014-15), put together a monster season. The Lion guard led the conference in scoring with 18.4 points per game and in field goal percentage, (44.8%). She also ranks second in free throw percentage (82.4%), third in three-point field goal percentage (35.1%) and eighth in steals (51) and steals per game (1.9).
“We knew what Kwanza brought to the table after last season when she came to the team in the second semester,” said Mosley. “I think it was her first game in the line-up, and she set the school record for threes. She is just a natural leader, who leads by example and pushes her teammates to step up their games, too.”
Murray’s biggest games of the year came against some of the toughest opponents Lincoln faced. Playing against a highly ranked Shippensburg team, the Summerville, SC native, poured in a Lincoln D-II era record 41 points, including eight threes, tying a school record, while shooting a sparkling 80-percent from beyond the arc, also a school record.
“This has been the best season, and the best team I’ve ever been a part of in my basketball career,” said Murray.
Joining Murray in the backcourt on the All-CIAA team is DeAshia Young. The senior from Detroit led the league in assists (133, 4.8 pg) and ranked third in the league in free throws made with 95. Young was second on the team in scoring (12.3 ppg).
“I really feel that DeAshia got snubbed last year, so I am really happy to see her recognized for the great year she’s had for us,” said Mosley. “She is incredibly unselfish, and just does what it takes to help the team win, whether that is passing to teammates, or stepping up as a scorer when we needed it.”
Rounding out honors for the women’s team is Janya Lilly, who was named to the all rookie team. The Baltimore native appeared in 21 games on the season, and when on the court, was always a long-range threat, as one of seven Lions with ten or more three-pointers for the season.
“Janya has a high ceiling,” said Mosley. “As our only freshman, she saw how tough the transition is from high school to college, and it forced her to grow up in a hurry. She quickly learned how she needed to step up and earn her own way. She has a bright future ahead of her.”
On the men’s side, two Lions were honored, Dequan Williams and Deonta Dunlap.
Williams, a junior, takes home Defensive Player of the Year honors, a first for a Lincoln player. Williams, also named to the All-CIAA team for a second consecutive year, has been honored by the conference three straight years, having been selected to the All-Rookie team as a freshman.
The Lions forward pulled down 11.1 rebounds per game, good enough for tops in the conference and fourth nationally in Division II. With 301 rebounds for the year, Williams is the first Lion to reach 300 boards in a season since the 1985-86 season. Williams also leads the Lions with 23 blocked shots and is second on the team with 29 steals. Third on the team in scoring at 12.6 ppg, Williams is Mr. Double-double, with 15 on the season, a total that ranks third in the nation.
Dunlap was selected to the AllRookie team. The freshman appeared in 26 games for the Lions, starting the last six. Dunlap leads the team with 55 three pointers, tied for tenth in the conference, and first among all rookies. Averaging 8.5 ppg, Dunlap has made 42 of 50 free throw attempts, a stellar 84-percent.