CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Junior guard Karlie Brogan and senior forward Oneil Holder from the Moravian College basketball teams have been named to the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Team of the Year by the LVSCB Organization at its final luncheon of the 2018-19 season at DeSales University.
The Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Organization is made up of the six small college schools in the Lehigh Valley including NCAA Division II schools East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and NCAA Division III schools Cedar Crest College, DeSales University, Moravian College and Muhlenberg College.
Brogan has helped lead the Blue and Grey to a 16-8 overall record and an 8-5 Landmark Conference record. This winter, Brogan is averaging 11.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game to go along with 33 three-pointers, 47 assists, 45 steals and nine blocked shots, and has 702 points and 441 rebounds during her career.
"Karlie is a coach's dream," stated Moravian Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "She gets the tips. She gets the steals. She takes a charge, get a rebound when you need it, and when you need a bucket, let's go to Karlie. She just does all of those intangibles. We try to keeper her on the court at all times. We're real excited to have her back for another year. She's one of our captains, and off the court she is a tremendous person and a great student. She's a joy to coach."
Joining Brogan on the Team of the Year were Venus Cabrera of Cedar Crest, Morgan Birmelin of DeSales, Jordan Hertz of East Stroudsburg, Rylee Derr of Kutztown and Carley Hamilton of Muhlenberg. Birmelin was named the Peter Nevins Women's Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season by the LVSCB Organization.
Holder leads the Greyhounds, who are 16-8 overall and 9-4 in Landmark Conference action. Holder is averaging team-highs of 18.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest this winter, and he has also contributed 64 assists, 50 steals, 24 blocked shots and 26 three-pointers. Holder, who has tied the school record with 105 career games played, is fifth all-time with 1,557 points, eighth with 672 rebounds and third with 105 blocked shots.
"Oneil has had a tremendous year as well as career for us," commented Head Coach Justin Potts. "He's the first guy that committed when I got the job at Moravian. Statistically, he's leading us in scoring and rebounding, and he is second in assists. He's top ten in the conference in rebounding, assist to turnover ratio, assists, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, blocks and steals so he has really stuffed the stat sheet all year. Away from basketball, Oneil is going to be the first person in his family to graduate from college. We've spent a lot of time over his career finding ways to figure things out. Just watching him grow as a person has been really special. He's going to be a great guy to reference during the rest of my coaching career on what you can accomplish when you work hard."
Joining Holder on the Team of the Year were Matt Kachelries of DeSales, Josh Williams of East Stroudsburg, Anthony Lee of Kutztown and Dan Gaines of Muhlenberg. Lee was named the Peter Nevins Men's Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season by the LVSCB Organization.
