April Emory
February 21, 2008
For the second consecutive year, Celeste Trahan, a center for the ECSU Lady Vikings, has been named the CIAA Player of the Year as voted by the CIAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The conference’s coaches have also chosen her as the Defensive Player of the Year as she leads the CIAA in blocked shots (2.13pg) and ranks 22nd in NCAA Division II in the same category. She also ranks first in the nation in both scoring and rebounding. Trahan, a Stockton, CA native, closes out her career as the first woman in ECSU history to earn Player of the Year honors. Just recently she became the first woman in school history to have her jersey retired. The jersey now hangs in the Robert L. Vaughan Center on the ECSU campus. Earlier this season she earned the distinction of being the first woman in NCAA Division II history to tally 2,000 points and 1,500 rebounds in a career. Trahan was named CIAA Player of the Week eight times this season. Celeste Trahan and Anthony Hilliard, a guard for the Vikings named as the CIAA’s male Player of the Year, will mark the third Player of the Year duo in CIAA history to claim the titles in the same year. The feat is a first for ECSU. (previous years: 1995 Norfolk State University and 2005 Bowie State University.) The All-CIAA Team will be honored at the women’s tip-off banquet on Sunday, February 24, in Charlotte, NC, the site of the 2008 CIAA basketball tournament. For more information on ECSU athletics, visit www.ecsuvikings.com. Kesha Williams in University Relations & Marketing contributed to this article.
