WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University junior forward Jen Gemma (Milton/Fontbonne Academy), who has her team playing for a berth in the Elite Eight tonight, has been selected as the Division II Conference Commissioners Association East Region Women's Basketball Player of the Year by the region's sports information directors.

Gemma, previously honored as the Player of the Year in the Northeast-10 Conference, has put together an outstanding season while helping the Falcons rebound from an 11-win campaign last year to register a 27-5 mark entering tonight's NCAA Division II East Regional final against NYIT.

The six-footer averages 19.8 points, three-tenths of a point better than the school record she set last winter, and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 45 percent from the floor, 41 percent from three and 80 percent at the line. She's the NE-10's top scorer for the second straight season and currently has 13 double-doubles.

In five postseason games so far, she's given the Falcons 20.2 points and eight rebounds a game while making half of her 16 three-point attempts and 29 of 34 from the line.  She was chosen as the Most Outstanding Player in the Northeast-10 Championships and propelled Bentley into the East Region final for the fourth time in six years with 16 points and seven boards in the semis against Queens (N.Y.).

Gemma has a shot at adding to her resume tonight as she's six points shy of the school record for points in a season (640, Keri Flynn, 2002-03) and one rebound away from 300 rebounds, a milestone last achieved by a Bentley player in 2005 (Shevon Gibbons, 308).

Gemma also heads the All-Region first team which also included Madison Rowland of Queens, Dina Ragab of NYIT, Bria Young of Philadelphia and Tianna Smith of Bloomfield.

The Division II Conference Commissioners Association encourages and promotes Division II athletics and high standards of sportsmanship as important elements of higher education. The CCA is a key communications link among the conferences as they discuss views, policies and regulations that impact Division II intercollegiate athletics and works closely with the NCAA as a communications channel to NCAA Division II member colleges and universities.