HADLEY, Mass. -- The Bates women's basketball team nearly swept the major awards, senior captain Elsa Daulerio earned a rare double honor as the NESCAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, and she joined junior Sarah Hughes as first team All-NESCAC selections, as announced Wednesday by the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Head coach Alison Montgomery and assistants Jackie Luckhardt, Jack Stannard, and Mike Seltzer picked up the NESCAC Coaching Staff of the Year award for the first time. 

Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine) is only the third player since the turn of the century to win both NESCAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. She is also the first Bates women's basketball player in that time frame to be a three-time first team All-NESCAC selection. 

The All-America center has blocked a career-high 73 shots while averaging 14.2 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game for the NESCAC champion Bobcats.

Hughes (Rumson, N.J.) has been simply electric, averaging 11 points per game while shooting a career-best .483 from the floor. Her shooting percentage is the best in the NESCAC among guards. She has been named the NESCAC Player of the Week three times this season, including after leading Bates to the program's second NESCAC title over the weekend. 

Montgomery took over as the Bates head coach in 2015-16 and she and her coaching staff have been together as a unit since 2002-23. This season, the Bobcats improved from 17 wins to 24 and counting. Currently, Bates is just one victory shy of a tie for the most wins in one season in program history.

Daulerio is the first Bates women's basketball player to win NESCAC Player of the year since Meghan Graff '23 in 2022. She is the first Defensive Player of the Year for the Bobcats since Meredith Kelly '14 in 2014. The Bates coaches are the first to win NESCAC Coach or Coaching Staff of the Year since Bates Athletics Hall of Famer Jim Murphy '69 in 2005.

The Bobcats are in the NCAA Division III tournament for the 10th time in program history. They host U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in the first round at Alumni Gym this Friday at 7:15 p.m.