JAMAICA, NY --- (www.YORKATHLETICS.com) York College women's basketball student-athlete Mac-Dege Dessources '23 has been nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, announced by the NCAA. Dessources is one of 619 female college athletes who were nominated, which is awarded to graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service, and leadership throughout their college careers.

"To represent York College as the NCAA Woman of the Year nomination is such a blessing and leaves me lost for words. Playing for York College made me feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself. My teammates and I worked nonstop trying to show everyone around us that York deserves to be recognized. We have grown so much as a program so having my name up there with York College makes me feel all the hard work paid off. This would not just be for me, this is for everyone that helped me in my journey and for every athlete that ever trusted York and their program."- Mac-Dege Dessources

The nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, including 264 nominees from Division I, 128 from Division II, and 227 from Division III. Nominees competed in 24 sports, combining for a 3.76 grade-point average.

Academically, Dessources was a one-time Dean's List selection and graduated with a 3.017 cumulative grade-point average as a journalism major with a minor in black studies.

Dessources played 91 games to dominate as a four-year starter for York College women's basketball. During the 2022-23 campaign, Dessources became the first member of the 1,000-point 1,000-rebound club, finishing her four-year career with 1,377 points and 1,298 rebounds to take over as the program's all-time leader in those statistical categories. With career averages of 15.1 points, 14.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocked shots while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor, Dessourcces is a three-time CUNYAC All-Star selection, being named to the first-team her final two seasons. As a freshman during the 2018-19 season, Dessources led the nation with 403 rebounds at a career-best rate of 16.1 per game, becoming the NCAA Division III Statistical Champion for Rebounds Per Game. As a force inside the paint, Dessources followed her rookie season by ranking among the nation's best rebounders, finishing third (13.4 RPG) in 2019-20, second in 2021-22 (14.5 RPG) and sixth (13.1 RPG) in 2022-23. During her junior year, Dessources led the CUNYAC with a career-high 20.5 points to rank 14th in the nation. Dessources has also led the CUNYAC in rebounds per game in each of her four seasons.

Over 24 games in the 2022-23 season, the Harlem native earned All-Met Division III Third-Team for the second-consecutive year after averaging 18.1 points on a career-best 51.5 percent shooting from the field, to go along with 13.1 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per contest, guiding the Cardinals to the semifinals of the CUNYAC Championship for the second time in three seasons. Alongside her stats, Dessources garnered various awards and weekly honors this season. She claimed two CUNYAC Player of the Week awards, four Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Divisions II-III Honorable Mention selections, taking her career total to eight, and was selected to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week in February. Dessources garnered annual institutional recognition, being named both a four-time York College Female Student-Athlete of the Year and York College Women's Basketball Most Outstanding Award winner, and recently received the 2022-23 York College Female Student-Athlete Career Award distinction.

Following the announcements for campus nominations, conference offices can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or an international student-athlete. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be placed in a separate pool to be considered by a selection committee.

The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division — from the conference-level nominees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in October. The selection committee will then determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced in November. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year. The honorees will be celebrated at the Woman of the Year Award Ceremony at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix in January. Learn more about the award program, next steps, and previous winners by visiting ncaa.org/woty. 

For the latest news on the Cardinals, log on to www.yorkathletics.com – the official site of York College athletics. Also, become a follower of the Cardinals on Instagram (@yorkcardinals), Twitter (@yorkcardinals) and YouTube (@yorkathletics), and "LIKE" Us on Facebook (York Athletics).