Ann McInerney '89 named to Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame

WORCESTER, Mass. --- Ann McInerney ?89, one of the premier two-sport student-athletes in Assumption College history, has been elected to the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame.

The inductees will be honored at the Northeast-10 Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Banquet held at the Colonnade Hotel in downtown Boston, Monday, June 2. The ceremony will include the presentation of the Northeast-10 Scholar Athletes of the Year, the awarding of the President's Cup, as well as the announcement of this year's Institution-of-the-Year and the presentation of the Northeast-10's nominee for the NCAA Woman-of-the-Year Award.

In addition, the conference will also pay tribute to the late Bob Bellizzi, the long-time baseball coach at the College of Saint Rose. Bellizzi coached 28 years at Saint Rose prior to his passing two years ago after a long battle with cancer.

Other student-athletes being inducted include Jill (Croft) Paige '02 (track & field) of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Kim Cummings '96 (basketball) of Bentley College, Kavin Gailliard '99 (football) of American International College and Jim Ferrer '89 (basketball) from Bentley. The conference will also induct current Saint Anselm College athletics director and former men's soccer coach Ed Cannon.

McInerney is the sixth Greyhound to be included in the Hall of Fame select group following former Athletics Director ANDY LASKA H'68 (Worcester, MA), tennis standout KRISTEN COKER '95 (Sebasco, ME) and baseball standout MIKE O'KEEFE '92 (Chelmsford, MA) all enshrined June 5, 2006. Joining them last year (June 4, 2007) were softball/soccer standout STEPHANIE MARTIN '00 (Arlington, MA) and basketball standout DREW ADDERLY '91 (Tuxedo Park, NY).

She left as the career scoring leader with 1,406 points (currently fourth) and second-leading rebounder with 1,076 (currently third). She was also Northeast-10 Conference Player-of-the-Year in 1989 and the first Greyhound to be named a first-team all-conference player. As a softball standout, she was the starting catcher on the College's first conference championship team, and a two-time all-conference honoree.

The former Burncoat High (Worcester, MA) standout worked hard to make herself a better and then dominant player. After averaging just under four points as a first-year player, she averaged 13.3, 15.3 and finally 20.2 points-per-game over the next three years, while becoming the dominant rebounder in the Northeast 10 Conference---averaging 11.0, 13.3 and 11.8 rebounds respectively.

Her two top games included 32 points, 14 rebounds versus Adelphi University (12/27/87) and 30 points, 11 rebounds versus Saint Michael's College (12/3/89). Currently she is among the career leaders in rebounds (1,076), field goals made (551), field goal accuracy (.511), free throws made (303) and games played (105). She is one of five players to score at least 500 points in a single season (566 in 1988-89) and owns two of the top (372 in 1987-88) and (329 in 1988-89) rebounding seasons.

She was awarded the William Cating Memorial Award in 1986 presented annually to the student-athlete deemed 'most coachable.' And, was named the basketball team Most Valuable Player and winner of the prestigious Andrew Laska Award as the female Athlete-of-the-Year in both 1987 and 1989.

A softball career .308 hitter with 128 hits helping her teams post a combined 85-56 record winning the Northeast-10 regular-season championship in 1989. She was named all-conference in 1987 and 1989.

Her coaching career has included stops at Nichols College (head basketball coach), Merrimack College (assistant basketball and softball coach), Bentley College (assistant basketball coach), Merrimack College (head coach), the University of Maine (head coach) and Harvard University (associate coach). She will begin her first season as an assistant coach at the College of Holy Cross in September.

She became the first Northeast-10 Conference personality to be named its Player-of-the-Year (1989) and Coach-of-the-Year (2005), while coaching at Merrimack College.