News

Orji Nominated for NCAA Women of the Year

July 16, 2010

Stephanie Orji of Cheyney has been selected as one of the two PSAC's nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Orji recently completed a standout career at Cheyney and is one of the 452 female student-athletes that have been nominated for the award nationally across all three NCAA divisions.

Orji recently concluded her career at Cheyney as a two-sport athlete as she competed on both the women's basketball and women's outdoor track & field teams. Last year, Orji became the first female athlete in Cheyney history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field championships after finishing second in the PSAC in the triple jump. She finished 15th at NCAAs in the same event. This year, Orji qualified for NCAAs for the second straight year after winning the PSAC triple jump title. She went on to finish 12th at NCAAs and ended her track & field career as the school record holder in both the triple jump and high jump.

On the basketball court, Orji was a second team All-PSAC East selection as a sophomore and was among the team's leaders in both scoring and rebounding in each of the past three seasons, including finishing in a tie for third place in the PSAC in rebounds per game this past season with 9.2. She helped lead the Wolves to PSAC tournament in both the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, marking the first time in 18 years, since 1990, that Cheyney qualified for the PSAC playoffs. Also a classroom standout, Orji recently graduated with a 3.77 gpa and a degree in recreation and leisure management.

Schools nominate perspective honorees from their own respective schools and the Senior Woman Administrators from the PSAC vote on the PSAC's nominees. Two are then forwarded onto the NCAA office for national consideration. After a first round of voting based on a list of criteria, the top 10 honorees per division (I, II and III) will be announced in August. After a second round of voting based on a list of criteria, the top three honorees per division will be announced in September. From the group of the final nine honorees, the national winner will be announced at the NCAA Woman of the Year awards dinner in Indianapolis on October 17, 2010.

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Student-athletes may only be nominated once in their careers by their institution. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) manages the nomination process and selections.

Lauren Beckley, the other PSAC nominee, recently concluded her basketball career at Shippensburg as the PSAC's all-time leading scorer with 2,407 career points, surpassing the old record of 2,289 that had stood for over 25 years. Her career point total also ranks 15th all-time in NCAA Division II. She was the PSAC East Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons and is the only player in league history to win a conference player of the year award in both divisions. She was also the West Player of the Year as a sophomore and the West Rookie of the Year during her freshman seasons. One of just five players in PSAC history to compile over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career, Beckley was both a Division II Bulletin and WBCA All-American as a senior. Also a standout in the classroom, Beckley was a two-time CoSIDA first team Academic All-District selection and a three-time PSAC Winter Top 10 selection. She graduated with a 3.59 grade point average while majoring in exercise science. Beckley recently signed a professional contract with Lemvig Basket, a team in Denmark.

Four other female student-athletes from the PSAC were nominated for the award. Those were Sonia Petrosoniak (California - softball), Sarah Romasco (IUP - women's soccer), Renata da Silva (California - volleyball) and Tiffany Crocker (Gannon - women's basketball).