CONTACT: Adam Sopris, a.sopris@hvcc.edu, 518-416-2137 or 518-629-7898
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Friday, February 22, 2019
The Mountain Valley Conference (MVC) released its 2019 women's basketball All-Conference teams, as voted on by the head coaches. Sophomore's Taylor Engster (Troy/Catholic Central) and Hannah Kreiger (Brunswick/Tamarac) headlined the Vikings selections as Hudson Valley earned a conference-best five All-Conference selections.
Kreiger and Engster were named to the All-Conference First Team and the duo is joined by Caitlin Estes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville), who was named to the Second Team. Madison Graber (Schenectady/Schalmont) and Hayley Jones (Catskill/Catskill) garnered Third Team honors to account for the five members of the Vikings women's basketball program to earn all-conference recognition.
Kreiger, a two-time First-Team All-Conference selection, led the Vikings in scoring for the second consecutive season. She is currently averaging 16.1 points per game (6thin Region 3) and has compiled 835 career points, which ranks third on the Vikings all-time scoring list. Kreiger has reached double-digit scoring in 21 games this season and surpassed the 20-point plateau six times.
Engster, a Troy, NY native, earned First-Team All-Conference after another successful season as one of the more versatile student-athletes in program history. She is currently averaging 14.4 points per game and leads the team with 7.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 3.1 steals per game (5thin Region 3). Engster currently ranks seventh on the all-time scoring list with 736 career points and ranks fifth with 232 career assists. Taylor tallied 130 assists this season, which is seventh most in a single season in Vikings history and currently leads all of Region 3.
Estes, a Scotia, NY native, earned Second-Team All-Conference in her first season with Hudson Valley. Estes joined the program a few weeks into the season and hit the ground running as one of the best pure scorers in the region. Caitlin currently ranks eighth in Region 3 with 15.8 points per game and played in 21 games this year. She started the season by scoring double-figures in 16 consecutive games and scored a career-high 27 points on Feb. 9 at North Country.
Graber, a Schenectady, NY native, also garnered all-conference honors following her first collegiate season at Hudson Valley. Madison was named the NJCAA Region 3 player of the week following a perfect 3-0 record in which she averaged 17.7 points and 6.3 rebounds a game. Graber became one of the more reliable scorers for the Vikings this season. She scored at least 10 points in 21 of 24 games played this year and surpassed 20 points in three games, including the regular season finale at Fulton-Montgomery, when she led the Vikings in scoring with 20 points and nine rebounds.
Jones, a Catskill, NY native, earned all-conference honors for the first time in her collegiate career. She became the vocal leader of the team over the past two seasons and averaged eight points and six rebounds a game this season. Hayley recorded a career-high 18 points in Hudson Valley's 106-56 win at Kingsborough on Dec. 11, 2018. Jones played in 51 games in her career and started in all 25 games for Hudson Valley this season. She currently averages 6.2 rebounds per game, which ranks second on the team.
The women's basketball program will learn its postseason fate this Saturday evening following the conclusion of the NJCAA Region 3 basketball committee and seeding conference call. The Vikings are currently ranked fifth in the overall NJCAA Region 3 standings with a record of 10-6.
