OVC Doubling Up on Weekly Awards

Players Claiming Multiple Awards

(St. Louis, MO) – The Ohio Valley Conference is doubling up on its weekly awards. On both the men’s and women’s sides of the awards, both the ‘Player of the Week‘ and the ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ honors were given to just one player.

Ironically, the ‘Freshman of the Week‘ awards went to players earning their first weekly awards of the season.

Women Doubling Up

Southern Indiana’s Ali Saunders claimed two, weekly awards. The 5’10 sophomore scored 20 points and 18 points during the Screaming Eagles’ two victories. (Tuesday night USI clinched the OVC regular season title). Saunders is both the ‘Player of the Week‘ and ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ for shooting over 60% from the field and over 70% from deep.

She added fourteen assists over the two games, including a career-high eight against Little Rock. This is Saunders’ second ‘Newcomer‘ award and her first ‘Player‘ nod.

USI (19-6, 14-1) clinched the title with a road victory at Morehead State on Tuesday. While dominating the league race, prior to this week, Saunders’ one ‘Newcomer‘ award was the only one earned by a Screaming Eagle.

Men Doubling Up Too

UT Martin’s Jacob Crews grabs the league’s ‘Player of the Week’ and ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ awards. Crews’ outstanding season continued during the Skyhawks’ two victories. He AVERAGED 30.5 points and seven rebounds while the Skyhawks surged into a tie for second place.

The Daytona State transfer is the OVC’s third leading scorer (18.3 ppg) and is sixth in rebounding (8.0). Crews is one of three Skyhawks that have nabbed ‘Player‘ honors and it is his second time being honored. This is his third ‘Newcomer‘ award.

With Morehead State’s loss on Tuesday, there are four OVC teams with just four losses. UT Martin, Western Illinois and Little Rock all stand one-half game behind Morehead. The Eagles are 11-4 and the other three are 10-4.

Freshman Awards

Southern Indiana freshman Chloe Gannon becomes the second Screaming Eagle to receive a weekly award this week AND all season. The 6’2 forward averaged 16.5 points and eight rebounds during USI’s two victories. Part of her week’s work included her first-ever double-double. The ‘Freshman of the Week‘ is the eighth different freshman to win one of these weekly rookie awards.

Southeast Missouri’s Marqueas Bell becomes the second Redhawk to receive an OVC weekly honor. The Kansas City native averaged 17.5 points and four rebounds and picked up the ‘Freshman of the Week‘ honor. He came off the bench to score 17 points and earned a start in the next contest where he scored 18 points. Seven men’s first-year players have received rookie honors.

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Editor: Cover photo courtesy of usiscreamingeagles.com.