Senior Kayla Hoohuli was named to the preseason All-Big 4 First Team at Big 4 Media Day at First Niagara Center in downtown Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon. Junior Tiahana Mills was named to the All-Big 4 Second Team.
Hoohuli, a two-time member of the preseason All-Big 4 Second Team previously, has appeared in all 90 games during her first three years as a Golden Griffin. The St. Mary's, Pa. native led the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game, 3-pointers made (48), steals (33) and minutes per game (33.5) last season. Hoohuli had a strong ending to her junior season, shooting 46.8 percent from the floor during the final six games and scoring a career-high 23 points in the quarterfinals of the MAAC Championship against Quinnipiac. Hoohuli enters the season with 148 career 3-pointers, which ranks eighth in program history. The 5-foot-7 guard is the sixth player in program history to make at least 45 3-pointers in each of her first three seasons.
She also has drawn 46 chargers in her career, including a career-best 19 charges last season.
Mills has appeared in 58 games during her Canisius career and earned MAAC All-Rookie Team honors in 2013. The 5-foot-5 guard led MAAC sophomores with 123 assists last season, the fifth-most by a Canisius sophomore in the Division I era. The Binghamton, N.Y. native also had six or more assists in nine games and at least five rebounds in 14 games. Mills scored a career-high 19 points in the regular-season finale against Rider. She also ranked 10th in the MAAC with a 75.6 free-throw percentage, making 92 percent of her free-throw attempts during the final 12 games.
Canisius opens the 2014-15 season at St. Bonaventure, on Friday, Nov. 14. The Golden Griffins face Binghamton in their home opener on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the KAC.
Canisius returns eight letterwinners, including three of the top four scorers, from the 2013-14 team that posted a 13-17 overall record and 9-11 record in MAAC play to finish in fifth-place in the conferences standings, the best conference finish for the Golden Griffins in the past five seasons.
