WALTHAM, Mass. - Three Brandeis University student-athletes were named University Athletic Association (UAA) Player of the Week for the week ending December 8. Senior guard Kenny Small of Stratford, Conn., was honored for men's basketball, while junior Lucia Capano of Manchester, N.H., was recognized for women's track and field and junior Anna Hanley of Medford, Mass., was selected for women's fencing.
Small earned his first career UAA Player of the Week honor. A second-team All-UAA selection last season, Small guided the 23rd-ranked Judges to a 4-0 week, including three road wins and one on a neutral court, averaging 17 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He shot 43.5 percent overall (20-46) and from 3-point range (10-23) and 85.7% from the line (18-21). After a very quiet night in a 51-47 win at Clark on Dec. 1 (2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Small scored 20 in each of the final three games of the week. He had 20 points and four assists in a 76-73 win at Framingham State on Dec. 3.
Small followed that up by winning MVP honors at the inaugural New England Big Four Challenge. He had 24 points (including 10-of-11 from the line), two boards, two assists and two steals in an 88-73 semifinal win over Salem State and 22 points, three rebounds against Tufts in a 54-41 victory, including six in an 11-0 run midway through the second half that put a tied game out of reach. Overall this season, Small is second in the UAA in scoring, averaging 17.9 points per game, while ranking fifth in 3-pointers per game (2.3) and steals per game (1.9).
Capano, a junior, had the Judges' top performance at their season-opening Jay Carisella Track & Field Invitational at Northeastern University, a non-scoring event, on Dec. 5. She finished second in the triple jump with a distance of 10.96 meters (35 feet, 11.5 inches), 2 inches behind the winner from DII American International College and ahead of two jumpers from DI New Hampshire, among others. Capano also finished eighth in the long jump (4.97 meters, 16-3 ¾), second among DIII competitors, and 20th in the 55-meter dash (7.65 seconds).
Hanley, a junior saber fencer, had a fine performance at the 2009 Brandeis Invitational. Despite an 0-5 record overall for the Judges, the saber squad went 3-2, thanks to a 13-2 mark by Hanley. She went 3-0 against Ivy League foe Brown, Cornell and Yale and 2-1 against St. John's and North Carolina. The saber squad posted its wins over Brown, SJU and Cornell. Overall this season, she is 34-4. The 2008-09 Northeast Fencing Conference Women's Fencer of the Year, this is Hanley's fourth career UAA Fencer of the Week honor.
Small is a 2005 graduate of Stratford High School. He is the son of Kenneth and Cathy Small, Stratford, Conn.
Capano is a 2007 graduate of Manchester Central High School. She is the daughter of Peter and Susan Capano, Manchester, N.H.
Hanley is a 2007 graduate of Lexington Christian High School. She is the daughter of Tim and Terry Hanley, Medford, Mass.
- 30-