This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Nora Princiotti.
Head coach Jonathan Tsipis capped off practice Tuesday with the announcement to his team that four Colonials had received Atlantic 10 honors for the season.
Freshman Caira Washington headlined the group as A-10 Rookie of the Year, while sophomore Jonquel Jones made the second team. Washington and graduate student Danni Jackson earned spots on the third team and junior Chakecia Miller earned a place on the all-defensive team, the league announced Tuesday.
GW leads the A-10 with three players earning all-conference honors, after finishing its first winning season since 2009.
Washington wouldn’t admit that she saw the award coming, but did say that after her third Rookie of the Week award in February – in which she averaged 19.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in wins over VCU and Massachusetts – she started to think of herself as in the running.
Washington’s 57 percent field-goal shooting and nearly four offensive rebounds per game are the best in the A-10. The Brandywine, Md. native has posted ten double-doubles this season, the most on the team, averaging 11.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
She is the tenth Colonials to ever be named A-10 Rookie of the Year, the first since Kimberly Beck back in 2005, as well as the first freshman to be named to an all-conference team since Erica Lawrence earned third-team honors in 2000.
“I’m excited for Caira,” head coach Jonathan Tsipis said. “One of the things I’ve seen in her is when she’s had a bad game she’s always responded.”
Jones tied Washington with 10 double-doubles, though the Clemson transfer has played just 18 games to Washington’s 29. The two have worked off and complimented each other all season long, evident in their season-ending honors.
“A lot of our post to post is very natural and is fun,” Washington said. “Ball handling, shooting – I really look up to her in all aspects as a player.”
Joining the frontcourt duo is their point guard, Jackson. Although GW’s two bigs are being celebrated in their inaugural seasons as Colonials, for Jackson, the recognition marks a breakthrough into the upper echelon of league players after four years as an honorable mention.
The 5-foot-2 guard was not only third in the conference with 5.9 assists per game, but also climbed into the GW record books as the second Colonial ever with 1,000 career points and 500 career assists.
Absent from the list of accolades was another Colonial who scored her 1,000th career point this season: graduate student Megan Nipe. Tsipis said he avidly argued for her as 6th Woman of the Year on the phone with fellow A-10 coaches.
Miller rounded out the all-conference award recipients Tuesday as an all-defensive team selection. Miller was tapped as a preseason all-defensive team member and has played stellar defense for GW all season, most recently aiding in shutting down A-10 Player of the Year, Dayton’s Andrea Hoover.
“I was really excited to tell the whole team,” Tsipis said about the awards. “It was the last thing I told the team.”
GW will await to find out its opponent for the upcoming A-10 Championship quarterfinals matchup this weekend.
