Basketball: OUA East women's awards

The OUA East women's basketball awards were announced this morning:

Player of the year — Toronto G Alaine Hutton (Hamilton). The senior guard is a main reason why U of T is poised to make its second Final 8 trip in four years; Hutton has averaged 17.8 points for Varsity, which plays Ottawa in a game to go to nationals tomorrow night.

Joy Bellinger Award of Merit — Amanda McConnell, F, Laurentian (Regina, Sask.). McConnell, who lost her mom to breast cancer four years ago, was integral in a number of fundraising efforts for cancer treatment and research at the Sudbury school.

Coach of the year — Ottawa's Andy Sparks. The proof is in the record; Sparks made Ashbury College a provincial girls powerhouse and has carried that over to Ottawa, which has thrown off the yoke of last season's 3-19 catastrophe and gone 15-7 this season. A lot of credit goes to his staff, including assistants such as Mario Gaetano and Moriah Trowell, the former all-Canadian who was one of the veterans who left the Gee-Gees in 2007-08.

Defender of the year — Tanya Perry, G, Carleton (Barrie, Ont.) Ask anyone who watched a Ravens game this season; she was all over the court.

Rookie of the year — Abby Edmison, F, RMC (Carleton Place, Ont.) Edmison avergaged 7.0 points and 6.5 rebounds for a Paladins team which snapped its 128-game losing streak this season.

First team — Nicki Schutz, F, Toronto (Toronto); Ines Jelic, F, Carleton (London, Ont.); Hutton, G, Toronto; Laura MacCallum, G, York (Paris, Ont.); Brittany Moore, G, Queen's (Hannon, Ont.).

A little bit of trivia: The school scoring record which MacCallum now holds was previously held by Nastassia Subban, older sister of Montreal Canadiens prospect P.K. Subban.

Second team — Perry, G, Carleton; Emilie Morasse, G, Ottawa (Quebec City); Darrah Bumstead, F, Laurentian (New Hamburg, Ont.); Jenny Hobbs, G, Ryerson (Burlington); Sharlene Harding, F, RMC (Brampton, Ont.).

Rookie team — Edmison, F, RMC; Alyson Bush, G, Carleton (Ottawa); Emily Perras , G, York (Lindsay, Ont.); Kendall MacLeod, F, Carleton (Brockville, Ont.); Angela Tilk, F, Ryerson (Welland, Ont.).

All eight teams were represented, thanks to the rookie Edmison and the 34-year-old grad student, Harding.