Ebone Henry Named America East Defender of the Year; Henry & Forster on All-League Team - UAlbany Sports 2011

West Hartford, Conn. - Sophomore Ebone Henry became the first University at Albany player to earn a major award since the program joined the America East Conference when she was named the 2011 Women's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday, March 3. The announcement was made by the league at the annual awards ceremony on the University of Hartford campus.

Henry, a guard, also earned all-conference first-team honors after leading the Great Danes to highest win total at the Division I level. Entering the conference tournament, Henry is averaging 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, along with a team-high 77 steals. Henry, who was a member of the conference all-rookie team one year ago, has recorded five double-doubles in 25 starting assignments. She has registered double-digit scoring figures in 26 games this season, including a current streak of 14 straight. Henry scored a career-high 26 points in a win at Hartford on Jan. 8. She has multiple steals in 23 games this year, including a career-high six on two occasions.

Classmate Julie Forster joins Henry on the all-defensive team. Forster, who was an all-rookie team member a year ago, was named to the all-conference third team this season after leading the conference and being ranked as high as 15th nationally in rebounding. The 6-foot forward is averaging 9.8 rebounds and 9.3 points per game and leads the Great Danes with 27 blocks. She is also among the league leaders in field goal percentage, shooting 47.6 percent from the field. She leads the conference with 11 double-doubles and has grabbed double-digit rebounding totals in 16 games. Forster, who holds a 3.96 grade point average in business administration, was also a unanimous selection to the all-academic team, and was the only sophomore on the squad.

UAlbany (16-13) will face Hartford on Friday at 8:15 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the America East Conference Championship, held at Hartford's Chase Family Arena.

Paw Print: Ebone Henry joins Danielle Hutcheson as just the second UAlbany player to earn first-team All-America East Conference recognition ... Hutcheson was voted first-team all-conference in 2003-04 and 2004-05.


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information