Payton Graber Named NJCAA Region 3 Player of the Year

Payton Graber Named NJCAA Region 3 Player of the Year
February 27, 2023

CONTACT: Adam Sopris, a.sopris@hvcc.edu, 518-629-7898 or 518-416-2137
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Monday, February 27, 2023

Hudson Valley Community College women's basketball freshman Payton Graber (Schenectady/Schalmont) was named the NJCAA Region 3 Player of the Year as voted on by the Region 3 coaches. Graber becomes the first women's basketball member to be named Region 3 Player of the Year since women's basketball legend and Hall of Famer, Lindsey Bradt was awarded the honor in back-to-back seasons in 2001 & 2002.

Graber, a 2022 New York State Class B Champion and all-time leading scorer during her high school career at Schalmont, came out of the gates running as she tipped-off the season with back-to-back 30-point games and later scored a career-high 41 points at Massasoit on Jan. 10. At the mid-semester break, Graber was leading the NJCAA in scoring, averaging 27.2 points per game and was second in the NJCAA with 5.7 steals per game.

Payton, started all 17 games she played, finished the season averaging a program record 24.8 points per game and ranked second in scoring among the NJCAA. Graber shot 41.2 percent from the floor while hitting 51 three-point field goals and tallied 421 total points (17th most in program single season history).

Graber was also a lockdown defender and facilitator as she led the team with 4.9 steals per game, which ranked third in the nation, and grabbed a team-best 9.4 rebounds to lead the team in rebounding as a 5-8 guard. She also led the team with 3.6 assists per game while averaging over 33 minutes per game.

The women's basketball program has had a handful of First Team All-Region honorees over the years with the last one coming in 2019 when Taylor Engster (Troy/Catholic Central) was named to the All-Region 3 First Team following her sophomore season.

Being recognized as the Region 3 Player of the Year sets Graber up to become only the third HVCC women's basketball member to garner NJCAA All-American honors in the last 21 years (My'Asia Alston '15, Lindsey Bradt '02).