SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference held its annual MAAC Honor Roll dinner on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Court of Dreams. Marist's honorees were Ursula Winter and Steve Smith.
Each member institution of the MAAC honors one male and one female from its basketball “family” as part of its induction class. Each honoree will be profiled in the game program for the 2016 MAAC Basketball Championships, and will also be featured in a video display at “The MAAC Experience.” Honorees are enshrined in “The MAAC Experience” exhibit at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Here is a closer look at Marist's honorees:
Ursula Winter
Winter played at Marist from 1981-85. She was a standout for the Marist women's basketball program in its early days of Division I play, and her impact is evident in the record books 30 years after the conclusion of her career. Winter graduated as Marist's all-time leading scorer with 1,587 points. She held this record for a quarter-century, and remains one of just two players in program history to score over 1,500 career points. Winter was a versatile performer who still ranks in the program's top five all-time in scoring average, field goals made, field goal percentage, free throws made and rebounds. Her 18.8 points per game in 1983-84 is the second-best single-season average in program history.
Steve Smith
Smith played for Marist from 1979-83, and starred for the Red Foxes as the program made the transition to Division I. A 6-foot-5 guard, Smith scored 2,077 career points. He was the first Marist basketball player to reach the 2,000-point milestone, and was the program's all-time leading scorer for over three decades. Smith averaged 19.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in his career, while shooting an impressive .545 from the field. He was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press, Sporting News, and Basketball Weekly in 1982, following a season in which he averaged 21.0 points per game, which ranked 27th in the country.
This is the fifth induction class for the MAAC Honor Roll. Here are the yearly inductees:
2011 – Alisa Kresge, Rik Smits
2012 – Rachele Fitz, Fred Weiss
2013 – Julianne Viani, Mike Hart
2014 – Corielle Yarde, Jared Jordan
2015 – Ursula Winter, Steve Smith
