WESTON, Mass. - Three members of the Regis College women's basketball team made history as graduate student Haley Lightbody (Reading, Mass.) and sophomores Erika Marinelli (Point Pleasant, N.J.) and Madi Zancan (Cumberland, R.I.) are the first representatives of the Pride women's basketball program to receive College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® honors, as the national organization announced the 2023-24 Academic All-District® Men's and Women's Basketball Teams Tuesday, March 26.
Lightbody, a member of the (then) CoSIDA Academic All-District Women's Cross Country/Track & Field Team representing Stonehill College in 2021-22, made an immediate impact upon her arrival at Regis as a graduate transfer. She appeared in all 27 games, including 24 starts, and averaged 7.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.8 steals per game, finishing the season second in the GNAC and 46th in all of Division III in total steals with 76.
Marinelli started all 27 games for the Pride this past season, averaging 5.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. She opened the season by shooting 5-for-6 from the field, including 2-for-3 from long distance, for 12 points in a close loss at Wellesley Nov. 8. She scored a season-high 13 points on 6-for-10 field goal shooting at Fitchburg State Jan. 10.
Zancan, a Second Team All-GNAC selection, compiled the second-highest single-season point total in program history with 513 points as she averaged 19.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. She scored in double figures in 25 of 27 games, including a season-high 28 points on 13-for-20 field goal shooting Nov. 29 in a victory over Wheaton, as she finished fifth in the GNAC and 40th in Division III in scoring average.
In the classroom, both Marinelli, a psychology major, and Zancan, majoring in criminal justice, boast grade point averages above 3.8, while Lightbody produced a 3.67 GPA in her first semester of graduate school pursuing her master's degree in nursing. The selection of these three players along with Tate Pike for men's basketball brings Regis' total number of Academic All-District® honorees so far in 2023-24 to 14.
The Regis College women's basketball team finished the 2023-24 season with an 11-16 overall record, including an 8-6 mark within the GNAC. The Pride defeated Colby-Sawyer College in the first round of the GNAC Women's Basketball Tournament, 60-32, before losing to University of Saint Joseph in the quarterfinals.