WBB's Shepherd Earns All-Conference Nod

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – Mitchell College senior Jessica Shepherd was honored by the New England Collegiate Conference on Monday afternoon as the league announced its yearly awards. 

Shepherd, a 6-0 guard, earned a spot on the all-conference third team, one of 15 players who garnered all-conference status. Freshman guard Jessica Lohneiss was one of 10 players named to the NECC All-Sportsmanship Team. All awards were determined by a vote of the conference's head coaches.

Shepherd, an all-conference honorable mention pick in 2015, made 25 starts and averaged a career-high 13.7 points per game to lead the Mariners in scoring. In conference play she netted 15.2 points per contest—ninth-highest in the league—and also ranked among the top 10 in free throw percentage (.778), three-point field goal percentage (.371), three-point field goals (39), field goals (93) and blocks (14).

Shepherd capped a four-year career by becoming just the third women's basketball player in the school's Division III history to record 1,000 points. She cracked that milestone in a win over Newbury College on February 14 and finished with 1,040 for her career. She also became the program's all-time three-point field goal leader with 174 in 95 career games.

Lohneiss played in all 26 games and made five starts in her first season with the Mariners. She averaged 1.2 points per contest but recorded her season high of eight points in Mitchell's final game of the year.

Mitchell (12-14 overall, 12-6 NECC) qualified for the 2017 NECC Championship as the fourth seed and hosted fifth-seeded Wheelock College in the first round of the tournament. The Mariners were eliminated by a 69-56 final.