O’Dwyer & Purcell Represent GNAC on ECAC Women’s Basketball All-Star Team

CENTERVILLE, Mass. – The Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) announced its 2012-13 Women's Basketball All-Star Teams on Thursday afternoon.  Emmanuel College's senior forward Fiona O'Dwyer (Stamford, Conn.) and Rivier University sophomore Deanna Purcell (Hudson, N.H.) were among the ten honorees from the New England region.  Both received a nod on the All-ECAC Second team, as voted upon by the New England Women's Basketball Coaches.

O'Dwyer, a four-year starter at Emmanuel, will graduate as the program's third all-time leading scorer with a collegiate career total of 1,557 points.  She is also Emmanuel's all-time leading rebounders with a four-year total of 920 boards. O'Dwyer led the Saints to GNAC Championships in all four of her seasons played at Emmanuel. The Stamford, Connecticut native also led Emmanuel to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight in her junior season.

Most recently, O'Dwyer and the Saints rolled to a perfect 12-0 mark in regular season GNAC competition, won the conference tournament and advanced to take on the University of Rochester University in the national tournament.  A first round NCAA loss gave the Saints an overall record of 23-6 for the 2012-13 campaign.

Purcell followed an impressive rookie season in which she was named the 2012 GNAC Rookie of the Year as well as honored as a 1st team All-GNAC selection with another standout performance during the 2012-13 season. The Hudson, N.H. native was selected to the GNAC All-Conference First team as she led the Raiders to their second straight GNAC Tournament appearance. The sophomore became the fastest student-athlete in GNAC history to reach the 1,000 point plateau (78 games) when she did so on February 5th at Lasell College.

Purcell finished the season averaging 22.6 points per game for a total of 565 on the season and a shooting percentage of 50.6%. She also collected 137 rebounds and started all 25 of the team's games.

Player of the Year: Sarah Collins, Jr. - Babson College

Rookie of the Year: Olivia Murphy, Fr. - UMass-Boston

First Team:

Michaela Cosby, Sr. - Bridgewater State University

Marcia Voigt, Sr. - Amherst College

Sarah Collins, Jr. - Babson College

Claire Baecher, Sr. - Williams College

Colleen Moriarty, Sr. - UMass-Dartmouth

Second Team:

Deanna Purcell, So. - Rivier University

Nicole Garland, Sr. - University of Southern Maine

Beth Suggs, Sr. - University of New England

Fiona O'Dwyer, Sr. - Emmanuel College

Vanessa Bosques, Gr. - Daniel Webster College

*Release content provided from Emmanuel & Rivier Sports Information