Normally when the Big East announces the end of the year major awards, the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team is taking most or all of them home. Well the times are a changing folks but they did pick up one.
Fresh off of winning eight Big East Freshman of the Week honors, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named the Big East Freshman of the Year on Friday. It’s the second straight year that a Husky has won the honor as Bria Hartley was honored last year. KML was also named to the All-Big East second team as well as being the sixth man of the year.
Here’s the release from UConn:
HARTFORD, Conn. – Freshman standout Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis has been honored as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, as announced by the league on Friday afternoon at the XL Center in Hartford. Mosqueda-Lewis is the second-straight Husky to be so honored as teammate Bria Hartley garnered the award last season.
Mosqueda-Lewis is the 12th Husky to be honored as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and the fifth Husky to earn the award in the last seven seasons. Yesterday, the Anaheim Hills, Calif. native was selected as one of five freshmen to be named
Mosqueda-Lewis finished the regular season as the Huskies’ second leading scorer at 14.4 points per game and established a new freshman record for made 3-point field goals with 75. Mosqueda-Lewis eclipsed the previous record of 73 set by Moore during the 2007-08 campaign.
The Anaheim Hills, Calif. native finished 12th in the BIG EAST in scoring and sixth in 3-point field goal percentage. Both were tops among league freshmen.
Mosqueda-Lewis and the No. 3 seed Huskies (26-4, 13-3) are back in action on Sunday, March 4 when the team takes on either No. 6 Rutgers, No. 11 Cincinnati or No. 14 Marquette in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Tournament. Game time is set for approximately 8 p.m. at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
2011-12 Big East Women’s Player of the Year
Skylar Diggins, Jr., Notre Dame
2011-12 Big East Freshman of the Year
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Fr., UConn
2011-12 Big East Coach of the Year
Kim Barnes-Arrico, St. John’s
2011-12 Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year
Da’Shena Stevens, Sr., St. John’s
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
Photo credit: Brad Horrigan – Hartford Courant
1. Tampa Bay – Manager Joe Maddon (7th year/9th overall) 
Joe Maddon was the AL Manager of the Year and it was well deserved. After being stripped of a lot of his talent from the 2010 team, he was able to get the 2011 team to play together and make the playoffs for the 3rd time in 4 seasons. They overcame a substantial deficit in the last month to earn a post season slot on the seasons final day when Boston finished off it’s full collapse. The Rays have a solid starting rotation and really good everyday lineup and they are my pick to win the division in 2012.
2. New York – Manager Joe Girardi (5th year/8th overall)
The New York Yankees came up short last year losing in the ALDS to the Detroit Tigers. To remedy that, this off season they did manage to get SP 
3. Boston – Manager Bobby Valentine (1st year/16th overall)
After the biggest late season collapse in baseball history there are some new faces in Boston. Gone are long-time manager Terry Francona to ESPN and general manager Theo Epstein who became the President of the Chicago Cubs. In their places are former Epstein right hand man Ben Cherington who assumes the role of Executive Vice President/General Manager and Connecticut native Bobby Valentine who comes from ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball to be the new field manager.
4. Toronto – Manager: John Farrell (2nd year)
John Farrell had a very good first season as the Toronto manager and it didn’t hurt to have 
5. Baltimore – Manager: Buck Showalter (3rd year/14th overall)
Baltimore joins Boston as an AL East team with a front office change and in a surprise of surprises they hired former Boston and Montreal GM Dan Duquette as their new general manager. Duquette is expected to work hand in hand with manager Buck Showalter in putting together a team to compete in the division without breaking the bank in the mold of division rival Tampa Bay. They have a good base to work with in RF 
Senior Tiffany Hayes was named to the All-Big East First Team and is joined by her teammate sophomore Bria Hartley. Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named to the All-Big East Second Team.
1. Philadelphia – Manager Charlie Manuel (8th year/11th overall)
The Philadelphia Phillies will remain the class of the NL East in 2012 as they look to get to their third World Series in the last five seasons under skipper Charlie Manuel. They have possibly the best pitching staff in baseball and got even better in the back end when they signed free agent closer 
2. Atlanta – Manager Fredi Gonzalez (2nd year/6th overall)
The Atlanta Braves tried to hang with Philadelphia last year and with all their injuries and players having down years they just couldn’t do it. But they were in position for the NL Wild Card until they had the biggest late season fade this side of Boston. They ended up missing the playoffs on the last day when the eventual World Series champion St. Louis swooped in on the last day of the season to claim the wild card spot. The Braves need better seasons from 
3. Miami – Manager Ozzie Guillen (1st year/9th overall)
New name, new logo, new stadium, new colors, new uni’s, new manager and new players. A quote from my twitter feed asked, “Are the Marlins robbing banks?” They don’t appear to be but owner Jeff Loria decided to open up the wallet and he has spent big time. The new manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t come cheap, then they signed free agent SS 
4. Washington – Manager Davey Johnson (2nd year/16th overall)
The Washington Nationals are looking to make some noise but it still may be another year or two away. Davey Johnson starts his first full season as the manager after he took over on June 25 when Jim Riggleman resigned unexpectedly two days earlier. The Nats beefed up their rotation with a trade for 
5. New York – Manager: Terry Collins (2nd year/ 8th overall)
In the wake of the Bernie Madoff disaster the Mets at one point were looking for someone to buy into the team. After not being able to attract a minority buyer in time the Mets turned to Bank of America for a $40 million dollar bridge loan until they can sell some minority shares plus they’ve already borrowed $25 million from MLB that they haven’t been able to re-pay. Then they failed to retain free agent SS Jose Reyes who bolted to division rival Miami after New York never even made their former star player an offer. So if the Mets are borrowing money to survive, even with a brand new stadium, how are they supposed to compete in the NL East with Philadelphia, Miami and Atlanta and an improving Washington? It will be a long season again in Queens. 1986 was a long time ago.