Members of the Binghamton women’s basketball team were recognized on Friday night at the America East (AE) conference’s annual women’s basketball awards banquet. The banquet, held on the eve of the AE championship tournament, honors the top performers in the conference throughout the season.

Binghamton head coach Linda Cimino was crowned America East Coach of the Year — her first major award at the Division I level. After the Bearcats were picked to finish last in this season’s AE preseason poll, Cimino led the team to a tie for third place in the AE and the fifth seed in the tournament.

“I’m really appreciative of the fact that we were recognized as a staff,” Cimino said. “This is a staff award; it’s not an individual award and I’m just really happy for our program.”

Sophomore forward Alyssa James was named Defensive Player of the Year. This marks the first time a BU player has received this honor. She was also named to both the All-Defensive team and the Third Team All-Conference squad. Senior guard Kim Albrecht was also named to the America East Third-Team and was selected to the America East’s All-Academic Team as well. Furthermore, sophomore guard Imani Watkins was named Second-Team All-Conference and freshman guard Rebecca Carmody was named to the AE All-Rookie Team.

“Coming into this year, we were really excited about Alyssa [James] anchoring our defense,” Cimino said. “We know that she’s a big presence; she takes up a lot of space and has the ability to block shots. More importantly, she’s really physical and she’s so strong that she can kind of keep their comfort level posting up on offense a little bit uncomfortable for the opponents.”

Prior to entering the conference tournament on Saturday, Cimino praised her team for its success this season and noted the Bearcats’ ability to come together when the odds were against them.

“When you have goals, you’re not going to let bumps in the road hurt you from reaching your goals,” Cimino said. “You’re just going to have them make you a little bit stronger and our kids have done a great job persevering and being resilient … It brings you together and makes you play more as a unit.”