Ramirez-Tejeda Named GNAC Player of the Year; Weaver Tabbed GNAC Defensive Player of the Year

BOSTON, Mass. – Seniors Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.) and Kayla Weaver (West Haven, Conn.) have been selected to the 2019-20 GNAC Women's Basketball All-Conference team while also earning two major honors, it was announced Monday morning by the conference office. Ramirez-Tejeda earns GNAC Player of the Year honors and makes her third consecutive appearance on the All-Conference First Team while Weaver was also voted the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year to go along with Third Team honors for the second straight season.

Ramirez-Tejeda has put together a stellar campaign averaging a team-best 19.3 points per game while ranking second overall in the GNAC in scoring with 539 points, the second highest single-season scoring total in Emmanuel women's basketball history. The senior also led Emmanuel while ranking third in the GNAC in rebounds averaging 12.0 boards per game while her 333 boards is a new single-season record at Emmanuel. The Cambridge, Mass. native posted 22 double-doubles this year to lead the nation at the Division III level and was the only GNAC player to average 19+ points and 10+ rebounds this season. She was named the USBWA National Player of the Week on February 18, the GNAC Player of the Week three times while appearing on the GNAC Weekly Honor Roll seven times this season.

In her three seasons with the program, Ramirez-Tejeda has been tabbed the USBWA National Player of the Week three times, GNAC Player of the Week nine times, earned 20 GNAC Weekly Honor Roll nods to go along with four NEWBA Weekly recognitions (1 POW/3 HR). She scored her 1,500^th career point in the regular-season finale and enters NCAA tournament play with 1,576 career points to rank third all-time at Emmanuel. She also moved into second place all-time in rebounds during this year's GNAC Championship run, grabbing her 923^rd board in the GNAC finals.

Weaver registers Defensive Player of the Year and Third Team honors for the second straight season after a standout senior campaign in which she posted 85 thefts to rank second in the GNAC and 21^st overall among D-III ballers. She ranked second on the team in scoring averaging 10.5 points per game and ranked fifth in the GNAC with 101 total assists. Weaver was a big key to the Saints defensive success as one of the main cogs in the Emmanuel full-court pressure system, helping Emmanuel force teams into an average of 22.0 turnovers per game to lead the league while ranking 35^th in the nation. She posted double-figures in 16 games including all three GNAC tournament games which earned her GNAC Tournament MVP honors.

Over four years with the Saints, Weaver has established herself as a dependable member of the backcourt unit by appearing in 113 games to rank 11^th all-time. She became the 25^th player in program history to score 1,000 points and currently ranks 22^nd all-time in scoring with 1,026 points. She enters the NCAA tournament with 274 steals to rank fourth all-time, 322 assists to rank eighth all-time to go along with 266 career rebounds.

Junior Jamad Fiin (Boston, Mass.) represented Emmanuel on the 2020 GNAC All-Sportsmanship team while sophomore Loredana D'Agostino (Broad Brooke, Conn.) along with Weaver and Ramirez-Tejeda all earned GNAC All-Tournament team honors with Weaver being named the tourney MVP.

Emmanuel currently stands at 21-7 on the year after capturing the program's 17^th Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship this past weekend with a 67-50 win over Saint Joseph's College of Maine. The Saints advance to the NCAA tournament for the 20^th time in program history and will take on New York University on Friday, March 6 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine at 5:00 PM in the opening round of the action of the 2020 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament.

Click here to view the entire 2019-20 GNAC Women's Basketball All-Conference Team