University of Maine junior guard Anne Simon was named America East Player of the Year as well as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday, while Amy Vachon was named the Coach of the Year

Simon is the eighth Maine player to win the Player of the Year honor and the fourth to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor. She is just the fifth player in America East history to win both in the same season.

Simon led America East in scoring at 16.3 points per game. Defensively, she led the league at 2.9 steals per game, which is 10th best in the nation. Her 81 total steals were 32 more than the next best player in the league.

Vachon joins Joanne Palombo McCallie as the only coaches in conference history to earn four Coach of the Year awards. This season, Vachon guided Maine to its 18th regular-season title – the fourth in the past five seasons – and the top seed in the America East playoffs. In Vachon’s six seasons, Maine has gone 77-19 in America East.

Also honored were Maeve Carroll (second team, all-defensive team and all-academic team), Alba Orois (third team) and Paula Gallego (all-rookie team).

The Black Bears begin America East postseason play at 1 p.m. Saturday when they host Hartford in the quarterfinals at Memorial Gymnasium.

VIRGINIA: Virginia dismissed coach Tina Thompson after four seasons.

Athletic Director Carla Williams made the announcement one day after the 14th-seeded Cavaliers were eliminated 61-53 by Wake Forest in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Thompson has one year remaining on her contract.

ARIZONA STATE: Coach Charli Turner Thorne is retiring after 25 years.

She led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, including five trips to the Sweet Sixteen and two to the Elite Eight. The 55-year-old Turner Thorne is the winningest coach in Arizona State history and second in the Pac-12 to Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, her former coach, with a record of 500-308.

BIG EAST: Villanova swept the Big East’s top honors on Thursday, with Maddy Siegrist selected women’s basketball player of the year and Denise Dillon chosen the league’s coach of the year.

(2) STANFORD 57, OREGON STATE 44: Haley Jones scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Stanford (26-3) over Oregon State (14-13) in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals in Las Vegas.

Stanford, which was 16-0 in conference play during the regular season, won its 18th straight game this season and has won 32 consecutive games against Pac-12 opponents, including postseason play.

(14) INDIANA 66, RUTGERS 54: Ali Patberg scored 19 points and Grace Berger had 17 to help the Hoosiers (20-7) end a three-game losing streak with a win over Rutgers (11-20) in the second round of the Big Ten Conference tournament in Indianapolis.

Gorham’s Mackenzie Holmes had 11 points for the fifth-seeded Hoosiers, who reached 20 wins for the seventh straight season.

Indiana faces 11th-ranked Maryland in the quarterfinals on Friday.

COLORADO 45, (14) ARIZONA 43: Mya Hollingshed scored 12 points and Colorado (22-7) knocked off No. 14 Arizona (20-7) in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Conference tournament .

Arizona was led by Lauren Ware with 15 points but the Wildcats were 2 of 24 from 3-point range and were just 12 of 48 overall.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

SYRACUSE:  The wife of Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim was robbed at gunpoint on Tuesday, according to reports. On Wednesday, Boeheim addressed his wife’s ordeal on ESPN Radio.

“She’s definitely shook up,” Boeheim said. “I mean, this isn’t television. It’s not movies. It’s real life. … She’s a little shook but I think she’s doing much better than could be expected.”

• Boeheim also said on the radio appearance that there’s a plan in place for when he steps down. Boeheim did not reveal any details of the arrangement because that could have an effect on recruiting. He said the university will decide when to make it public and he expects to have input on the selection of his replacement.

The 77-year-old Boeheim, the second-winningest coach in Division I history with 997 victories, behind only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, is nearing the end of his 46th season at the helm. He has said repeatedly that he intends to coach next season with a handful of freshmen enrolling.

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