Smith Earns Final Big South Player Of The Week Honor After Statement Game On Senior Day
Women's Basketball
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FARMVILLE, Va. – After a statement night for
Akila Smith on her senior day, she earned the final Big South Player of the Week honor of the 2021-22 season.
Last week, the Lancers played two games against the team that was tied for first at the time, USC Upstate, and Hampton for the team's senior day celebration. Smith averaged 21.0 ppg, grabbing a season-best of 29 points in the last regular season game - also her senior day.
Smith added 14 blocks over the two games (7.0 bpg), which added to her total on the year, leaving her with 89 blocks after regular season play. Smith passed one player in the "blocked shots" category, putting her third in the nation for blocked shots, and finishing fifth in the country for blocks per game at 3.07.
Longwood hasn't only seen Smith shine on defense, but her field goal percentage has also been amongst the top in the country all season long. Smith adding to those numbers last week, went 17-28 (.607 pct) and 1-1 from behind the arch (.100 pct).
Looking at the national leaderboard, Smith finished ninth in the country in field goal percentage (.588 pct) and 11
th nationally for field goals made (211).
Smith also averaged 7.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, and 2.5 spg stuffing her stat sheet all the way up to the final buzzer of the regular season. Smith is on the short list of candidates for Player of the Year according to
ESPN.com reporter Charlie Creme.
The official bracket was released for the
2022 Hercules Tire Big South Championship yesterday at 8:30 p.m. Longwood will received by in the first round, and will prepare for either Radford, or Hampton as their opponent on Thursday, Mar. 3 at 6:00 p.m.
#HorsePower
