Brianna Long (Colgan) and Addisyn Banks (Patriot) were named the Old Dominion Athletic Conference women’s basketball offensive and defensive players of the week.
Long, a sophomore forward at Virginia Wesleyan, scored 32 points Feb. 4 in a 67-60 loss at Shenandoah. It was the fourth-highest point total in the ODAC this year.
Long was 13 of 19 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. She also had 12 rebounds.
In a 66-53 win at Randolph Feb. 7, Long recorded 18 points and eight rebounds.
She is fourth in the conference in scoring (17.4) and second in rebounding (12.7). Long leads the league in field-goal percentage (.603), which ranks fourth overall in Division III.
Banks, a junior guard at Shenandoah, averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds along with nine total assists, nine steals and four blocked shots as the Hornets won twice last week.
On Feb. 4 against Virginia Wesleyan, she tallied 17 points, six rebounds, six assists and a career-high six steals.
In a 68-56 win over Hollins Feb. 7, Banks recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
For the season, Banks is third in the ODAC in scoring (18.3) and ninth in rebounding (7.7). She is third in assists (80), fifth in steals (50), and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.1).
For the fifth time this season, Manassas resident Nate Ament (Highland) of the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is the SEC Freshman of the Week.
Ament averaged 28.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last week. He shot 59.4 percent (19-of-32) from the field, 60.0 percent (6-of-10) beyond the arc and 81.3 percent (13-of-16) at the line.
Ament recorded 28 points, six rebounds and four assists in an 84-66 home win Feb. 3 against Ole Miss. Of his 28 points, 26 came in the second half.
Four days later, Ament scored a career-high-tying 29 points in a 74-71 loss at Kentucky. He shot 10-of-17 from the field and 4-of-6 from long range, tying career bests in both categories.
Ament’s 29 points at Rupp Arena marked the most by a visiting freshman against Kentucky in nearly 36 years, per Jared Berson. The last such player to hit that mark was Auburn’s Ronnie Battle, who tallied 30 on Feb. 24, 1990.