May 14, 2013
Bronx, N.Y. -
As the 2012-2013 season winds down, the Fordham University Athletic Department held its 79th annual Block F Awards Dinner at the Villa Barone Manor on May 1 to honor Fordham University's student-athletes for their accomplishments during the academic year.
Among those honored was women's basketball head coach Stephanie Gaitley, who received the Iron Major Award as Fordham's Coach of the Year, and graduate student Marah Strickland (Mt. Airy, Md./Towson Catholic), who was named co-recipient of the 2013 Claire & Jack Hobbs Memorial Award, presented annually to the female athlete of the year.
In just her second year at the helm, Gaitley changed the culture of the women's basketball team and guided it to its most successful season in over three decades, posting 26 wins, the second most in school history, including a 12-2 mark in the Atlantic 10. After being picked 11th in the preseason poll, the Rams knocked off squad after squad, advancing to the Atlantic 10 championship game for the first time in team history. Fordham finished the year with four All-Atlantic 10 performers and two All-Metropolitan selections, and the team earned its first postseason berth since 1994, advancing to the round of 16 of the WNIT.
Gaitley was also honored with the 2013 Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association's Maggie Dixon Award as coach of the year.
Strickland overcame illness to return to her team and lead the squad to one of its best seasons in team history. She led the Rams in scoring at 15.1 points per game, and was just one point shy of becoming the ninth women's player in school history to score 500 points in a season. Strickland was named Second Team All-Atlantic 10 and Second Team All-Metropolitan and helped the Rams to their first ever A-10 title game and to the round of 16 in the WNIT.
Additionally, Gaitley decided instead of naming one MVP she would honor the entire team as the 2012-2013 MVP.
