10 women’s Division 3 standouts in January

January marks a turning point in the college basketball calendar. Conference schedules begin and top contenders in each league start to separate themselves from the pack. 

Across the New England Division 3 women’s basketball landscape, 10 athletes rose to the top in the month of January for their invaluable contributions to winning teams. 

Every standout on this list led their teams to a winning record in January and were selected for weekly conference or national awards. 

Here are the 10 players from Division 3 colleges who starred in January. 

Bri Frongillo, Emerson 

Guard, 5-3, Junior 

Frongillo averaged 23.6 points and 7.8 assists as the Lions (13-6) went 4-1 in January. The junior guard from Hopedale, Mass., was named the New England Women’s Basketball Association (NEWBA) Player of the Week in consecutive weeks on Jan. 22 and Jan. 28. She also earned consecutive NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors and was listed to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week on Jan. 20. 

On Jan. 18, Frongillo nearly dropped a triple-double with 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a 78-62 road win over Babson. A week later, she poured in 44 points, dished out 12 assists and scored the game-winning layup with less than a second remaining to defeat Coast Guard, 93-91. 

Ernidia Goncalves, Salem State 

Forward, 5-11, Junior 

Goncalves averaged 15.8 points and 14.9 rebounds for the Vikings (10-10) in a 6-2 month of January. The junior forward ranks sixth in D3 in rebounds per game. 

Goncalves was named the MASCAC Player of the Week on Jan. 27 after leading the Vikings to two road wins. She posted 16 points, 14 rebounds, and three blocks against Worcester State, then notched an 18-point, 17-rebound outing at Fitchburg State. 

Goncalves added a 19-point, 19-rebound performance at Bridgwater State on Jan. 8. She notched a double-double in seven of eight games in January. The Everett, Mass., native surpassed the 1,000-point threshold on Feb. 1.

Lyric Grumblatt, Rivier 

Guard/forward, 5-8, Graduate 

Grumblatt, the third-leading points per game scorer in Division 3 women’s basketball, put up 26.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the field as the Raiders (10-10) went 6-4 in January. 

The graduate guard from Manchester, N.H., scored a career-high 46 points on 18-of-30 shooting on Jan. 29 in an 83-64 road win over Lasell, earning GNAC Player of the Week honors on Feb. 3 for her output. 

Grumblatt added 32 and 36-point performances to begin the month, on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3, against WPI and Babson. 

Grace Jaffray, Johnson & Wales 

Forward, 5-9, Freshman 

The freshman forward from Blue Hill, Maine, averaged 24.3 points and 11 rebounds in January, leading the Wildcats (16-2) to a 6-1 month and their best start in over a decade. 

Jaffray was selected to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week on Jan. 27, powered by a 29-point, 12-rebound effort in a win over Albertus Magnus, followed by 32 points and 12 boards in a road victory over Colby-Sawyer. 

Those two outings lifted Jaffray to five consecutive double-doubles. She added GNAC Rookie of the Week honors on Jan. 6, Jan. 20, and Jan. 27. Jaffray is fifth in the nation in points per game (24.3). 

Sydney Jones, Bowdoin 

Guard, 5-6, Senior 

Jones, the reigning NESCAC Player of the Year, averaged 15.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists while shooting 50.9 percent in January. She is leading the Polar Bears, ranked fourth in the nation, to an undefeated 22-0 start. 

The Chestnut Hill, Mass., native and daughter of Boston University men’s basketball coach Joe Jones earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 13. 

Jones notched a double-double on Jan. 10, scoring 20 points with 11 rebounds, five assists, and three steals in a 62-47 win over Tufts. The following night, she added a game-high 17 points with six boards, six dimes, and three steals in a 65-48 victory against Connecticut College. She will be key to Bowdoin’s national championship aspirations. 

Ally Landau, Smith 

Guard, 5-3, Graduate 

The Pioneers (18-1) are ranked seventh in the nation following a trip to the National Championship Game a season ago. They are led by Landau, a 5-foot-3 guard, who excels on both ends of the floor. 

Landau leads her team in scoring, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals. She tallied 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.4 steals per game in January while Smith went a perfect 7-0. 

The graduate guard was named the NEWMAC Athlete of the Week and the NEWBA Player of the Week on Jan. 7. Landau averaged 20.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 2.7 steals in a 3-0 stretch. She also earned two NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week nods during the month of January. 

Alexa Mustafaj, Middlebury 

Guard, 5-5, Senior 

Mustafaj, Middlebury’s all-time leading scorer, averaged a whopping 26.1 points on 50.1 percent shooting leading the Panthers to a 7-1 month. The senior captain scored 20 or more points in every game but one, a 19-point outing, in January. She netted a season-high 39 points on 15-of-25 shooting in a 66-49 victory over Oswego State on Jan. 4. 

Mustafaj scored 27 points on Jan. 18 in a 72-63 loss at Tufts, becoming the first Panther in school history to eclipse 2,000 career points. She earned a spot on the NEWBA First Team on Jan. 14 and Second Team on Jan. 21. The Yonkers, N.Y., native is D3’s seventh-leading scorer this season. 

Kate Olenik, Colby 

Guard, 5-8, Sophomore 

Olenik opened the month of January by scoring 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting at MIT. She ended her month netting 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 5 of 8 from 3 as Colby snapped a 26-game losing streak to Amherst. 

The Medfield, Mass., native averaged 22.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 54.6 percent from the field as the Mules went 7-2 in January.

Olenik was named the NESCAC Player of the Week on Feb. 3, largely due to her performance at Amherst on Jan. 31. 

Jordan Ouellette, Saint Joseph (Conn.) 

Forward, 5-8, Graduate 

Ouellette averaged 19.4 points and 9.0 rebounds while shooting 61.1 percent from the field in January. Her contributions led the Blue Jays to a 7-1 month. The graduate forward was named to the NEWBA Team of the Week on Jan. 15 and Jan. 22. She notched three double-doubles during the month, including a 22-point, 21-rebound outing on 11-of-13 shooting in a win over Anna Maria. 

Ouelette has been a steady presence for Saint Joseph the last four seasons, starting all but four games in her collegiate career. She became the program’s all-time leading rebounder on Feb. 2. 

Marinique Reddin, Anna Maria 

Forward, 5-8, Senior 

Reddin averaged 22.9 points and 7.8 rebounds for the Amcats in a 5-3 month of January. She earned GNAC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 27 following consecutive monster double-doubles. 

Reddin logged 30 points and 16 rebounds in a loss to Rivier on Jan. 21. The senior forward scored more than half her team’s points in the following outing, adding 35 points and 10 rebounds while connecting on 12 of 23 field goals on Jan. 25 in a 65-55 win over Lasell. 

Reddin is 10th in the nation in points per game.