BIDDEFORD, Maine – Jenni-Rose DiCecco of the Suffolk women's basketball team has been named Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Defensive Player of the Year, highlighting the two All-CCC selections for the Rams in their first year in the league.
In a vote of the 10 conference head coaches, DiCecco was tabbed as the program's first defensive player of the year after anchoring the Commonwealth Coast Conference's top defensive unit. In addition, DiCecco was a selection to the All-CCC first team, while her co-captain Gabriella DeComo was chosen to the third team.
DiCecco's size, a mere 5-foot-6, may not have allowed her to be one of the top rim protectors in the conference, despite swatting 11 shots, however, it was her quickness and athleticism that allowed her to rack up 80 steals this season, 3.3 takeaways per game. Those numbers are good for 12th and 16th, respectively, in all of NCAA Division III. She had least one steal in all, but one contest this year and had five outings with five or more takeaways.
With the fifth-year at its center, Suffolk's defense ranks second in the CCC in points allowed (54.8), first in opponent field goal percentage (30.8) and second in rebounds (46.8).
DiCecco's All-CCC selection is the third all-conference honor of her career after having also been named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference's (GNAC) first-team in back-to-back seasons in 2018-19 and 2019-20. She was also named the GNAC's Rookie of the Year in 2017-18. She is the second Suffolk student-athlete to own three first-team honors, first since Katie Norton '00. The laurels come on the heels of a season in which she averaged a team-best 13.5 points, 5.2 assists and 3.3 steals per game with 5.1 rebounds per outing on her stat line as well.
A native of Falmouth, Massachusetts, Dicecco will graduate as the program's all-time leader in scoring (1,710), assists (532), steals (306) and field goals made (601).
DeComo, who hails from Portsmouth, Rhode Island, collected her first all-league accolade after a 10.1 point, 4.3 rebound per game effort in her final season in blue-and-gold.
Suffolk has seen at least pair of Rams collect all-league accolades since 2016-17 with the exception of the 2020-21 season when all-conference nods were not handed out due to the cancellation of conference campaigns due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Although the CCC awards are on a new shelf in the Rams trophy case, since 19996, Suffolk has now earned 36 all-league honors including one defensive player of the year, two rookie of the years 12 first-team, nine second-team and 14 third-team selections.
In its first year in the CCC, the pair were crucial to help Suffolk seal its spot in the postseason, which the fourth-seeded Rams tip off tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 22 against fifth seed Gordon at 7:30 p.m. at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court.
2022 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CCC TEAM
MAJOR AWARDS
Player of the Year - Jordyn Franzen, University of New England
Defensive Player of the Year - Jenni-Rose DiCecco, Suffolk
Rookie of the Year - Sarah Dempsey, Endicott
CCC Scholar-Athlete - Samantha Mancinelli, Roger Williams
Coach of the Year - Kelly Thompson, Roger Williams
Team Sportsmanship - Wentworth
FIRST TEAM ALL-CCC
Sarah Dempsey, Endicott
Jenni-Rose DiCecco, Suffolk
Jordyn Franzen, U. of New England
Katie Galligan, Roger Williams
Tara Laugeni, Endicott
Karli Opalka, Roger Williams
SECOND TEAM ALL-CCC
Abby Cavallaro, University of New England
Caroline Elie, Roger Williams
Grace Fisher, Western New England
Abrianna Vazquez, Nichols
Madison Wynbeek, Gordon
THIRD TEAM ALL-CCC
Kaylee Beyor, University of New England
Gabriella DeComo, Suffolk
Allie Goodman, University of New England
Sam Mancinelli, Roger Williams
Ami Rivera, Gordon