Utica College Women's Basketball Head Coach Michele Davis was recently named the East Region Coach of the Year and junior forward Jessica Berry (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) was named to the East Region First-Team by d3hoops.com released Tuesday. Davis and Berry helped guide the Pioneers to their second NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in three years. UC finished it 2009-10 campaign with a 22-7 overall record – tying a program-record for wins in a single season.

Utica also won its second Empire 8 Conference crown in three years and they advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1984.

Coach Davis, who is now the program's all-time leader with 158 career victories, has guided the Pioneers to 17 or more wins in each of the last six years. Over the course of ten seasons she has led Utica to two NCAA Tournament appearances, two conference championships, and four ECAC Tournament appearances.

The honor marks Berry's first appearance on the first-team after earning second-team honors in each of the past two seasons. Berry, who was recently named Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, finished her junior season ranked 11th in the nation averaging 21.3 points per game. She also finished second in the Empire 8 Conference with 9.9 rebounds per game.

In her three years at Utica College, Berry has built an impressive resume in the women's basketball record book. She is only one of nine players in the college's history to score over 1,000 points, and she is currently third on the all-time list with 1,549 points. She also ranks second all-time with 111 blocked shots, and fourth all-time with 791 rebounds.

D3hoops.com is an online publication which prides itself in being the number one source for Division III basketball information. Players were nominated for these awards by the Sports Information Directors at the various schools. There were 676 players nominated nationwide, a new high. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for 10 players in their region. SIDs voted for six frontcourt players and four backcourt players, to ensure balance.

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