Three Hawks Win Postseason Honors

(L-R) Taylor Clark, Ruthanne Doherty, and Mary Silvia.

The Hawks' future is looking bright, as a pair of underclassmen scored postseason honors for the Hartford women’s basketball team. Sophomore Ruthanne Doherty scored Third Team All-Conference Honors, while freshman Taylor Clark picked up All-Rookie honors. Rounding out the Hawks' 2011 honors was senior Mary Silvia, who earned her second-straight All-Academic honor.

Doherty’s honor comes on the heels of a conference regular season where she closed out the last eight games leading the team with an average of 9.6 points-per-game and 7.6 rebounds-per-game. Over the last five games, the Richmond, Pa. native posted three of her team leading four double doubles. Over the last eight game stretch, Doherty shot 46 percent from the field (29-of-63) while also proving her unselfishness by dishing out 20 assists.

This is the second postseason award for Doherty, who earned All-Rookie team honors after her freshman season. Coming off off-season surgery, Doherty averaged 7.5 points over 27 games while leading the team in rebounding with an average of 5.7 rpg. She also amassed 42 assists, second most on the squad, while shooting 45.3 percent on the year (81-of-179).

Clark’s award follows in the footsteps of her teammate Doherty as well as former Hawks Diana Delva, Erica Beverly and Danielle Hood who all earned rookie honors as post players. This seasons All-Rookie team selection for Clark amounts to the Hawks having at least one representative on the all-rookie team in six of the last seven years. This season, Clark has started 19 games, including all but one in conference play. She is averaging 2.6 ppg and 1.9 rpg over an 18.6 minutes-per-game average.

Silvia earns her second academic honor of the season with her unanimous choice as a member of the 2011 All-Academic team. Of the five member team, Silvia sports the second highest GPA with a 3.90 grade point average as an entrepreneurial studies major in the Barney School of Business. Silvia has also been a force to reckon with on the court as she enters the 2011 America East Championship presented by Newman’s Own as the Hawks leading scorer, coming off the bench to average 9.6 points-per-game.

The Reading, Mass. native requires all of the Hawks opponents to track her closely wherever she is on the court as the can pull up from both sides of the three point arc. Silvia closed out the regular season with 56 three pointers, seven shy of tying former teammate MaryLynne Schaefer for the single season three pointers made record. For the year, Silvia is shooting 39.3 percent (92-of-234), while she is shooting almost identical from beyond the three point arc, 39.4 percent on 56-of-142. She also has dished out 31 assists and has grabbed five steals.

The Hartford women’s basketball team will begin its quest for an America East Championship with a quarterfinals match-up against the Albany Great Danes. Hartford, which closed out the regular season tied for third overall in the standings, enters the weekend championship as the fourth seed. The Hawks and Great Danes are scheduled to tangle at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Friday, March 4.