Kennisha-Shanice Luberisse, CIS Defensive Player of the Year

DEFENSIVE MVP: Kennisha-Shanice Luberisse, Saint Mary's

After being honoured at the conference level in each of her first two seasons with the Huskies, Luberisse became the first AUS player to be named CIS defensive MVP since the inception of the national award in 2001.

The 5-foot-7 guard, who started all 20 league games this season, led the AUS and was second in the country in steals with 3.4 per game. She also ranked second on the team with 6.9 rebounds and was the all-around leader of a defensive unit that allowed only 54.0 points per contest, good for first in the conference and second in the nation. The Montreal native also chipped in offensively with 11.0 points per outing.

The awards are quickly piling up for Luberisse, who was named a second-team AUS all-star this season after earning a spot on the first squad a year ago in her Saint Mary's debut.

"Kennisha is very deserving of this award. she guards the opposition's top perimeter player every game. She can guard positions 1-4 on the floor on any given night.  She is also relied upon to disrupt the other team's offence, be it in the full court or the half court," said head coach Scott Munro. "Kennisha is relentless in her pursuit of the ball when rebounding on both the offensive and defensive glass. She is a game-changer defensively and played a huge part in the Huskies overall defence this season."

The other nominees were guards Quételine Célestin of UQAM, Keneca Pingue-Giles of Ryerson and Jessilyn Fairbanks of Alberta.

Full release http://english.cis-sic.ca/sports/wbkb/2015-16/releases/awards