First Defensive Player of the Year at JMU?

Nikki Newman, #30, a 6’ 2” Junior at James Madison University (JMU), plays for the women’s basketball team. Nikki is one of the three team captains; playing Guard and Forward. In her college career so far she has received many awards. In her 2009-2010 season as a freshman she received the JMU Athletic Director Scholar Athlete, JMU Team’s Most Improved Player Award, and was among CAA leaders in blocked shots (11th). In her sophomore season 2010-2011 Nikki again was among CAA leaders in blocked shots (10th), and rebounding (20th). She was also second on the team in steals and third in assists and blocked shots, and got the school record for games played by a sophomore (34/tied). More recently, her current season as a Junior 2011-2012 Nikki was named All-CAA Defensive Team of the Year, and named Conference (CAA) Defensive Player of the Year. She is the first player named Defensive Player of the Year in the schools history.

Recently, JMU’s Women’s Basketball team has been playing in the WNIT tournament. They are currently in the semifinals, they will play Syracuse on Wednesday the 27th. Now back to Newman; not long ago Nikki made a amazing shot from WAY behind the 3 point line, draining it! And is now a ECAC Play of the Week Nominee. There was 6 seconds on the clock and they were down by 3, and Nikki tied it up bringing JMU to Overtime. During Overtime JMU scored 14 points winning the game with 84-76 vs. Wake Forest.

~Jenny Vignola