Ewing, NJ… The honors continue to pour in for The College of New Jersey's women's basketball team as senior Hillary Klimowicz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) and Head Coach Dawn Henderson were both recognized by d3hoops.com.
Klimowicz reeled in several honors being selected as the d3hoops.com Player of the Year and earned a spot on the 2009 Women's All-American First Team. In addition to those awards, she was also tabbed as the Atlantic Region Player of the Year and All-Atlantic First Team.
Henderson was cited as the Atlantic Region Coach of the Year after guiding the Lions to their best season in program history. TCNJ set a school record for most wins in a season (28) and games played (33), while making the program's first appearance in the Final Four. The team's third-place finish in the national tournament was also the highest in school history. The Lions finished the season with a record of 28-5 and won the 2009 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship.
Klimowicz was previously named the 2009 Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Player of the Year at Championship Team. She is not only the first Lion to garner this award, but the first player from the NJAC to do so. Klimowicz was also selected to the 2009 State Farm Coaches' All-America Basketball First Team.
At the 2009 NCAA Division III Final Four, Klimowicz was named to the All-Tournament.
Klimowicz's first post-season award came when she was tabbed as the 2009 New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year, marking the second straight year she has earned that honor. Klimowicz was also named All-NJAC First Team for the third straight season. She was also a finalist for the 2009 Jostens Trophy, as the top player in Division III.
The senior led the team and NJAC in a host of categories averaging 20.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 67.1 field-goal percentage, and 119 blocked shots. The center also led all players in Division III in field-goal percentage and ranked third in blocked shots per game at 4.1. She has also collected 14 double-doubles this season.
This season, Klimowicz received various weekly honors including being named the NJAC Player of the Week seven times, ECAC Metro Player of the Week three times, and was twice selected to the d3hoops.com Team of the Week. At the start of the season, she named the most valuable player of the Stevens Tip-Off Tournament. During the season, the captain set TCNJ's single-game scoring mark with a 35-point performance against William Paterson University.
She also set the single-season record for points in a season with 587 and ranks second in program history with 1,413 points and 832 rebounds.
The senior excels in the classroom as well as she was named CoSIDA's ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II College Division Second Team. She is a psychology major with minors in sociology and women and gender studies and boasts a grade-point-average of 3.57, in addition to being a three-time TCNJ Scholar-Athlete.
Klimowicz earned 2008 WBCA State Farm Coaches' All-America Team Honorable Mention and was the 2008 NJAC Player of the Year after joining the Lions from NCAA Division I St. Joseph's University, While at St. Joe's she was selected the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 and Big Five Rookie of the Year.
