VTC's Amanda Pickering Is VSSA's Athlete of the Month

A Vermont Technical College basketball player has been selected as the female Athlete of the Month for November by the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Brendan Mullins of St. Michael’s College and Amanda Pickering of Arlington and Vermont Technical College are the seventh pair of monthly state winners elected for 2006-07 by the VSSA. They will be among 12 sets of monthly winners honored at the VSSA’s annual Vermont Athlete of the Year Banquet next June at Norwich University.

Pickering, a senior, edged cross country runners Georgia Griffin of Norwich and Annie Mendes of Harwood Union; basketball players Jevy and Courtnay Pilypaitis and field hockey and ice hockey standout Kyle Lyons of Hartford.

Pickering averaged 18.4 points and over 10 rebounds a game as Vermont Tech went 8-0, including seven wins on the road during November. Pickering has done it all after coming back from ACL surgery and now she has helped the Green Knights become the top-ranked team in the nation by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.

First year coach Jim Sumner asked the 5-foot-10 Pickering to step into the low post when injuries shorted the Green Knights and the former Arlington Memorial High School standout responded with solid play.

Pickering, who graduated this month, also provided the defensive leadership at the other end of the court. During her days at Arlington Memorial, Pickering was instrumental in two state titles in basketball.