Cooper Collects NEAC First Team All-Conference Merits

GANSEVOORT, N.Y. – Junior Ashida Cooper (Bensalem, Pa.) of the Wells College women's basketball team has earned First Team All-Conference honors from the North Eastern Athletic Conference, the league announced Thursday. Cooper becomes only the second student-athlete to capture First Team All-NEAC recognition in program history. 

Joining the Express prior to this season as a transfer student from NCAA Division I Drexel University, Cooper averaged 18.8 points per game across 26 contests for Wells. Shooting .524 from the floor (209-for-399), she registered 135 total rebounds, picked up 93 steals and dished out 89 total rebounds across 739 minutes played. 

Among women's basketball players in the NEAC, Cooper's .524 field goal percentage was the second-highest while her 18.8 points per game was tied for fifth-best. She also earned top-10 ranks in the conference with 93 steals (third-most), 488 points scored (fourth-highest) and 93 assists (sixth-most). 

In games against conference teams, Cooper raised her field goal percentage to an even 54% (155-for-287, second-highest in the NEAC) and also posted 66 steals, the third-most by any NEAC student-athlete in conference play. 

Cooper also found herself ranked nationally, finishing eighth in NCAA Division III in field goals made (209), 13th in steals (93) and 15th in steals per game (3.58) nationwide. Her .524 field goal percentage (209-for-399) placed her 41st among qualifying players nationwide while her 18.8 points per game was 42nd in the nation. 

She also set single-season records for Wells, posting the program's finest assists average (3.4) and steals (93). Her 3.6 steals per game also was the best single-season mark in team history while her 209 field goals made ranks second alongside her .524 field goal percentage. Her 89 assists in one season is the second-most by any student-athlete in school history. 

Collectively, Cooper and the Express posted a 16-10 overall record alongside a mark of 12-6 within the conference. As a group, Wells set team records in cumulative points scored (1,871), scoring average (72.0), field goals made (723), field goal percentage (.392), three-point field goals made (124), assists average (15.0), steals (302) and steals average (11.6).