RICHMOND, Va. – Head Coach Bridgette Mitchell was tabbed CAA Coach of the Year, and junior Deja Bristol was named CAA Sixth Player of the Year, the league announced on Tuesday ahead of the 2023 CAA Women's Basketball Championship presented by Primis.
 
Additionally, junior Derin Erdogan garnered First Team All-CAA accolades, and sophomore Gemima Motema earned a spot on both the Third Team All-CAA and the All-Defensive Team.  
 
In just her second year at the helm, Mitchell led the Huskies to a share of its first-ever CAA regular season title. Despite being predicted to finish eighth, Mitchell guided Northeastern to a 18-11 overall record, and program-best 13-5 record in CAA play. Highlighting the program record of 13 conference wins was a 71-64 comeback victory over first-place Drexel. The win marked the Dragons' first loss on home court this season, and snapped a 17-game losing streak to Drexel. 
 
The Huskies have won eight straight games, and will enter the CAA Tournament as a three seed for the first time in program history.
 
Mitchell's Coach of the Year honors marks the first for the program since Daynia La-Force earned the accolade in 2012-13.
 
Bristol, becomes the first Husky in program history to earn CAA Sixth Player of the Year honors. The Upper Marlboro, Maryland native has nine double-digit scoring games, with two double-doubles. The junior has been a consistent key on offense, averaging 7.8 points per game while coming off the bench, which ranks fourth on the team. Bristol tallied a career-high 18 points in only 26 minutes in the win at Drexel. The junior also had impressive performances in wins at Hofstra (16 points on 8-of-9 shooting in just 18 minutes), and 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes in a 74-60 victory at Charleston.
 
Erdogan had a stellar first season while at Northeastern. The team's leading scorer has averaged 14.7 points per game, which is good for seventh in the CAA. The junior kicked off her Husky career in style with a career-high 24 points in the team's season opener victory at Boston University, and has 24 double-digit scoring games. The Istanbul, Turkey native also leads the team in assists with 111, averaging 3.8 per game which ranks top five in the conference. Additionally, the junior leads the team in three-pointers with 63, averaging 2.2 per game (sixth in the CAA), and also has been strong for the Huskies on defense with 47 total steals, which ranks second on the squad.
 
Motema had a strong sophomore campaign for the Huskies. The Portland, Maine native is second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game. The sophomore has 20 double-digit scoring games, three of which were 20+ points. Motema tallied a season-high 21 points (only shy of a career-high) against Boston College, and defensively had a career-high six steals against Maine. The sophomore leads the team with 52 steals, averaging 2.0 per game which ranks second in the conference. The sophomore now has earned three postseason honors from the CAA after earning All-Rookie accolades last season.   
 
The Huskies will face the winner of the #6 Stony Brook/#11 Elon second round game in the CAA quarterfinals on Friday, March 10 at 7:30 pm. The game will stream on FloHoops.  
 
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