BOSTON - Three members of the University at Albany’s women’s basketball team have been awarded a postseason honor from the America East conference, announced Wednesday.

The Great Danes led the conference, along with Vermont and Binghamton, with three athletes on the All-Conference First-, Second-, and Third Teams. All three schools added one student-athlete to the All-Defensive squad while only UAlbany put one on the All-Rookie Team.

Senior Kayla Cooper led the pack with a First Team All-Conference nod. Graduate student Helene Haegerstrand and freshman Deja Evans followed with a spot on the All-Conference Third Team. Evans added two extra honors with All-Defensive and All-Rookie nods while Cooper was also named to the All-Academic Team.

Named both First Team All-Conference and America East All-Academic for the second year in a row, Cooper started all 29 regular season games. Owning a team-high 15.7 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game, she ranks fourth (ppg) and second (rpg) in the conference. A Frederick, Md. native, she also finished the regular season second in the league with a .531 field goal percentage as well as top 15 numbers with 60 assists and 15 blocks. The only Great Dane to average in the double-digits, Cooper has totaled seven 20+-point games with only three games with single-digit point totals. Tallying her fifth, and sixth, career postseason awards from the conference, she has notched seven double-doubles so far this season.

As a member of the All-Academic Team, Cooper owns a 3.41 GPA while majoring in psychology.

In her first year as a Great Dane, Evans ended the regular season with three America East honors - Third Team All-Conference, All-Defensive Team, and All-Rookie Team. A four-time AE Rookie of the Week, she finished fourth in the conference, first among all rookies, with 7.2 rebounds per game. A staple on defense, she ranks second in the league with 1.6 blocks per game. On the other side of the court, the Conshohocken, Pa. native totaled 8.5 points per game, good for a top-20 figure in the conference, third among all rookies. With 11 double-digit point games, four double-digit rebound games, and two double-doubles, Evans is one of just two freshmen named to one of the three All-Conference teams.

Returning for a fifth year, Haegerstrand earned her sixth postseason conference award and her fourth AE All-Conference nod. A well-rounded player, Haegerstrand can be found ranking in all major categories on the America East statistics leaderboard. Concentrating on defense during the 2023-24 season, she finished fifth in the conference in blocks per game. Adding a top-20 spot in points per game, assists per game, and minutes per game, the Stockholm, Sweden native owns a top-10 number with three-point field goals made per game.

For the full list of America East honorees, click here.

For the America East release, click here.

For more information on the University at Albany women’s basketball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanywbb
Instagram & Threads - @ualbanywbb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyWBB