JOHN KOVACH | Colleges Innocenti, Popovec capture honors in basketball

MEADVILLE, Pa. -- Two Youngstown-area players on the Allegheny College women's basketball team have been selected to the All-North Coast Athletic Conference team.
Michelle Innocenti, a 5-foot-8 senior guard from Boardman High, was picked to the second team, while Michelle Popovec, a 6-0 junior center from Canfield, made honorable mention.
Innocenti averaged 8.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. She ranked No. 2 in the NCAC in 3-point field goals (46), No. 7 in 3-point percentage (32.9) and No. 9 in steals.
Innocenti also is second all-time at Allegheny in 3-point goals (87), and finished her career with 589 points and 320 rebounds.
First team last year: Popovec, who made the All-NCAC first team last year, averaged 9.3 points and 5.7 rebounds this season. She ranked No. 13 in the NCAC in rebounding.
Popovec also has impressive career totals in points (637) and rebounds (461).
Two other Allegheny players made All-NCAC. Stephanie Pollock, a 6-0 senior forward, earned a first-team berth, while Jessica Kankoski, a freshman, made honorable mention.
Allegheny, coached by Jennifer Reimer in her first year, shared the NCAC regular-season championship with Ohio Wesleyan, which won the conference tournament.
All-MAC: Seven area players were members of Mid-American Conference teams.
One of them, freshman Lori Krececzowski from Niles High, started every game entering Friday's MAC tournament semifinal against Miami (Ohio).
Krececzowski, a 5-7 guard, averaged 6.4 points and ranked second on the team in assists with 127 and was tied for third in steals with 37.
She helped KSU to a 20-7 record, including 14-2 and first place in the East Division.
At Bowling Green, Pam Brown, a 6-0 freshman forward from Warren Harding High, was a key contributor.
Playing in 29 games and starting 18, Brown averaged 6.3 points and 4.7 rebounds, although Bowling Green managed only an 11-18 record, 6-10 MAC.
Also with the Falcons is Karen Stocz, a 6-0 sophomore forward from Lakeview High, who averaged 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds while playing in 21 games, starting two of them.
Good start at OU: Ohio University lists Candace Bates from Poland High, a 5-11 freshman guard who saw action in 28 games, starting two of them.
Bates averaged 5.3 points and 3.1 rebounds while delivering 44 assists and 32 steals.
However, the Bobcats struggled to a 9-19 record, including 5-11 in the MAC.
At the University of Akron, Sandy Martin enjoyed a successful sophomore season, although the Zips struggled to a 6-23 record, including 3-13 in the MAC.
A 6-2 sophomore center from Struthers High, Martin started 19 of 29 games, playing in all of them, and had the second-best shooting percentage from the field on the team with 47.9 (70-for-146). She also was the third-top rebounder with 5.6 a game, while averaging 6.2 points.
In one of Martin's top performances, she had 18 points and nine rebounds in a 75-61 loss at Buffalo Jan. 6. And she had 14 points and nine rebounds in a 65-64 win over Buffalo in the first round of the MAC tournament.
Two more: Martin was one of three Youngstown-area players with Akron, the others being Kristy Booms, a 6-1 freshman from Canfield High, and Terrah Yeager, a 6-1 junior from Ursuline High and Campbell.
Booms played in 23 games and averaged 1.9 points and 1.4 rebounds. She made 17 of 45 from the field (37.8 percent).
Yeager was sidelined almost all of the season with a back injury, playing in only three games.