From University of Rochester Athletics

University of Rochester junior Julianna Okoniewski has been named First Team Academic All-District III for women's basketball after balloting conducted by the College Sports Information Directors of America. She advances to the national ballot for consideration as an Academic All-American.
 
In an extremely short season for basketball due to the pandemic, Okoniewski made her mark on the court. In April, she was named First Team All-Region by D3hoops.com. She is a native of Selkirk, New York and an alumnus of Bethlehem Central High School.
 
With the unusual Division III basketball schedules across the nation, the website decided to select a combined Northeast/East Region all-star team. The Northeast Region covers the New England schools. The East Region is for New York State teams. D3hoops.com did this with its Atlantic and Middle Atlantic regions as well. The other four regions each had their own All-Region honors without any combinations.

This is the second consecutive year that she reaped First Team All-Region honors from D3hoops.com. As a first-year in 2018-19, she was chosen as the Co-Rookie of the Year in the East Region and earned Third Team All-Region honors. In her sophomore season, she was selected First Team All-Region. She was the UAA Rookie of the Year in 2018-19 and First Team All-Region in 2019-20.
 
Rochester played an abbreviated six-game schedule. The Yellowjackets won five of six games. Okoniewski averaged nearly 28 minutes a game, shooting 53.1% from the floor (34-64), 50% at the line (4-8). She grabbed nine rebounds a game and topped double figures twice. She had 15 rebounds vs. Clarkson on March 7 and 10 in a victory at Bryant & Stratton Buffalo on February 24. Her top scoring outfit was 20 points in a victory over St. John Fisher College on March 10. That win came one week after Fisher defeated Rochester in its own gym. Her biggest scoring output was 20
 
D3hoops.com selectors chose two five-person teams for All-Region honors. Okoniewski was one of two All-Region honorees from the East. One of her most important contributions came in the final game of the season. She scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds, blocked four shots, and made three steals. She scored nine of her 14 in the fourth quarter as Rochester rallied from a 10-point deficit against Nazareth College. Nazareth bounced back to finish with a 10-2 record and the championship of the Empire 8 Conference.
 
She is majoring in Brain & Cognitive Science with a minor in Biology. Currently, she is shadowing an orthopaedic surgeon in Rochester and anticipates working as a Patient Care Technician at PACU in Unity Hospital in Rochester this summer. She was a chemist's aide in the summer of 2019.
 
Her long-term goal is to attend Physicians' Assistant school to focus on sports medicine and orthopaedics. She has worked as a counsellor at youth basketball camps both in the Rochester area and at home near Albany.