Delaware again begins pursuit of an NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament berth led by the conference Player of the Year.
Jasmine Dickey was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s best for the second year in a row Wednesday after a season in which she was steadily among the nation’s leading scorers.
Dickey and the Blue Hens (21-7) are seeded second in the CAA Tournament. They face No. 7 William & Mary (10-19) at 5 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Drexel University’s campus in Philadelphia.
Semifinal games are Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with Delaware bracketed to play in the second. The title game is Sunday at 1.
All games will be televised on Flohoops.com.
Delaware was the 2021 regular-season CAA champ but was upset in the tourney title game by Drexel, which is the No. 1 seed this year.
More on Blue Hens
CAA BRACKET: UD women seeded No. 2
COLONIAL RULE: Blue Hens win unlikely CAA title, earn NCAA berth
GET THE POINT?: Dickey provides prolific scoring, more for Hens
Dickey is the sixth UD woman to be a conference player of the year in basketball and the third repeat selection.
She follows Ursuline Academy graduate Sarah Gause (East Coast Conference, 1986); Jen Riley (ECC 1991/North Atlantic Conference 1992); Caravel graduate Tiara Malcom (CAA 2005); Ursuline graduate Elena Delle Donne (CAA 2010, 2012 and 2013); and Nicole Enabosi (CAA 2018).
The 5-foot-10 senior swing guard from Baltimore is third nationally with 25.0 points per game. Dickey scored a Carpenter Center record 52 points against Charleston on Feb. 4. She has averaged a league-best 24.7 points per game in CAA competition, while also ranking third in rebounding (10.6), fourth in blocked shots (1.1) and sixth in steals (2.1).
Dickey is among five finalists for the 2022 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.
Dickey was joined on the All-CAA first team by Delaware’s 6-foot forward Ty Battle, a senior from Plainfield, Illinois. She was also an All-Defensive Team pick.
Battle’s 12.4 rebounding average in CAA games leads the league and she has averaged 13.9 points versus CAA foes with a 51.9 field-goal percentage, third best in the conference.
Fifth-year senior Lizzie Oleary earned the Dean Ehlers Leadership and Sport Excellence Award, which recognizes leadership, sportsmanship and academic achievement.
Since joining the CAA in the 2001-02 season, Delaware has won two tournament titles – in 2012 and 2013 – and also reached the title game in five other seasons and lost.
The Blue Hens will be bidding for their fifth NCAA Tournament berth, the others coming in 2001 as America East champ and 2007 as an at-large selection.
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