ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – The Rider University women's basketball team brought home three major awards at the 2020 MAAC Postseason Awards Show which was streamed on ESPN3 on Wednesday morning.
 
Senior guard Stella Johnson (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic) was named the MAAC Player of the Year for the second straight season and Amari Johnson (Red Lion, PA/Dallastown) was honored as the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Stella became the sixth player in the history of the MAAC to be tabbed as the Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Stella enters the postseason as the leading scorer in the nation with 24.4 points per game. She is also the only active Division I player with 2,000 career points, 700 career rebounds, 400 career assists and 300 career steals. All eight of her double-doubles came against conference opponents. Besides scoring, Stella also led the MAAC in steals per game (2.9) and minutes per game (37.0).
 
Amari is the first player in program history to be named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. Amari was a force on both ends of the floor all season. She was the only player in the conference to average a double-double (11.4 PPG & 10.8 RPG) and she had a MAAC-leading 16 double-doubles during the regular season. Amari led the MAAC in defensive rebounds per game (8.5) and she ranked second in the league in rebounds. She also had 41 blocks and 28 steals. Amari had 10 or more rebounds in 15 conference games and she had two or more blocked shots in eight league contests this season.
 
Bronc Head Coach Lynn Milligan was also recognized as the MAAC Coach of the Year on Wednesday morning. It was her second time receiving the distinction in the past four seasons. She is one of just three active coaches in the league to earn MAAC Coach of the Year honors more than once (Brian Giorgis of Marist and Quinnipiac's Tricia Fabbri).
 
Milligan guided Rider to its first-ever MAAC Regular Season Championship as the Broncs went 18-2 in conference action. The 18 wins were the most for the team in league play in program history. Rider has a 25-4 overall record and the 25 wins are the most since the Broncs joined Division I following the 1981-82 season.
 
Rider has consistently been ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll, spending the last two months inside the top-12.
 
The top-seeded Broncs begin their quest for their first-ever MAAC title on Wednesday, March 11, at 1:00 pm. Rider will face #8 seed Niagara.