ORONO, Maine – University of Maine junior guard Blanca Millan has been named the America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year while head coach Amy Vachon has been awarded the league's Coach of the Year honor for the second consecutive season to headline Maine's six postseason award honorees.
 
Millan, who was also named to the America East All-Defensive team for the second consecutive season, earned a spot on the America East All-Conference first team for the second-straight season. Tanesha Sutton joined Millan as an America East first team selection, earning her second All-Conference honor and first-ever first team accolade.
 
Parise Rossignol was named to her first All-Conference team, earning a spot on the America East second team while Dor Saar rounded out the All-Conference honors after being named to the league's third-team.
 
Rossignol and Wadling each earned spots on the America East All-Academic team, as the Black Bears were the only team to receive multiple selections to the Academic squad.
 
Millan becomes just the fourth America East student-athlete to be named the league's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, and the first to do so since 2014-15. Millan is just the seventh Black Bear to earn the Player of the Year honor and the first since Kim Corbitt was recognized in 2005. Defensively, she joins Corbitt (twice) and Liz Wood (2015) as the only Black Bears to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors.
 
Millan, who registered double-figure scoring efforts in 23 of Maine's 29 regular season games, led the league in scoring after averaging 17.6 points per game. Millan, who ranked fifth in the league at 43.4-percent from the floor during the regular season, checked in seventh best with 1.9 three-point field goals made per game. The junior guard posted 12 scoring performances of 20 points or more including a career-high 36-point effort in a win over Brown. During her stellar year, Millan soared up Maine's all-time scoring leaderboard, surpassing 10 former greats and currently landing 10^th all-time.
 
Millan, a five-time America East Player of the Week award winner in 2018-19, was equally as impressive on the defensive end of the floor where she led the America East in steals for the second consecutive season (2.8) while ranking second in blocks (1.4). Millan posted five or more steals six times, including a career-best seven swipes in a win at North Carolina. Millan, who currently ranks fourth on Maine's all-time steals list, finished the year ranked 22^nd nationally in steals per game and 15^th with 82 total takeaways.
 
In just her second full-year at the helm, Vachon guided the Black Bears to their second consecutive America East Regular Season Championship, fourth in the last five years, and second-straight number one seed in America East postseason play. Vachon, who becomes just the sixth coach in the league's history to capture back-to-back Coach of the Year honors, ushered the Black Bears to their fourth 20-win season in the past five years. Along the way, Vachon challenged the Black Bears with the 56^th toughest non-conference schedule in the nation which featured 10 games against teams who made the postseason in 2017-18. During the stretch, Vachon led the Black Bears to wins over Penn, Toledo, North Carolina A&T, Harvard and at North Carolina. Under her leadership, the Black Bears posted their most conference wins (15) since 2016 as Maine put together an 11-game win streak to close the regular season. Vachon's offensive expertise helped mold the league's top scoring offense (67.2). With an emphasis on ball control, Vachon's Black Bears ranked fifth in turnovers per game (11.4), winning the turnover battle in 23 of their 29 contests.
 
Sutton ranked in the top-10 among league leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals as she turned in a career-best 14.1 points per game over the regular season to go along with a team-best 7.2 rebounds. Sutton tallied six double-doubles while posting 20 double-figure scoring performances over Maine's first 29 games. Sutton, who led the league with a 50.3-percent showing from the floor, tallied back-to-back America East Player of the Week honors to end the regular season.
 
A year after being named the America East Sixth Player of the Year, Rossignol earned a spot on the America East second team. The graduate student guard provided a key 3-point threat for the Black Bears, ranking atop the league leaders with a 41.2-percent mark from beyond the arc and setting a school-record with eight triples against UMass Lowell. Rossignol posted career-highs in several categories including points per game (11.4), rebounds (3.8) and assists (1.5).
 
There were no signs of sophomore slump for Saar who earned a spot on the league's All-Conference third team. Maine's point guard ranked second in the league at 5.0 assists per game and posted a league-best 2.46 assist to turnover ratio, good for 26^th best in the nation. Saar tallied 16 performances of five or more assists during the year while averaging 8.9 points per game. Saar turned on her offensive effort in conference play, ranking first in the league with a 44.9-percent mark from 3-point range in conference only games to go along with an average of 9.7 points per game against league foes.
 
Rossignol and Wadling took two of the five spots on the America East All-Academic team. Rossignol, who earned her undergraduate degree in May of 2018, is pursuing her Masters in Education while carrying a 3.67 grade point average (GPA). Wadling was recognized with her second-straight spot on the All-Academic Team, posting the highest GPA among the five selections with a 3.89 mark in Kinesiology & Physical Education. Earlier in the spring, Wadling was named to Team Maine, an accolade presented to the student-athlete with the highest GPA on each varsity sport at UMaine.
 
-UMaine-