PSAC Athletes of the Week - 20
Men's Basketball
Eastern Division Athlete of the Week
Shippensburg
Carlos Carter
Guard
Senior
Indiana, Pa. / Indiana
Carter averaged 18.7 points, six boards and 2.3 assists over three contests. He shot 51.1% (23-of-45) from the field and 42.9% from three (6-of-14) as a guard during that stretch. He also shot 60% from the field and scored a team-high 22 points in the Raiders' 72-61 road victory against fellow PSAC East contenders Lock Haven Jan. 28. Carter has scored 20 or more points in 7 of his last 14 outings, a run that has catapulted him into second place on the PSAC scoring list at 18.2 points per game.
Eastern Division Defensive Athlete of the Week
Shippensburg
Dom Sleva
Forward
Graduate Student
McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour Falls
Sleva averaged 8 points, 12.3 rebounds and three steals in three games. He posted a career-high 6 steals and finished just a point shy of a double-double (9 points, 13 rebounds) in SU's 72-61 win at Lock Haven Jan. 28. He then recorded a double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds) and came up with a late steal that gave the Raiders a chance at a potential game-winning shot attempt in a 56-55 loss at Millersville Jan. 23. Sleva averaged a team-best 37.7 minutes over the past three games. For the season, his 9.74 defensive rebounds per game and 12 double-doubles lead NCAA Division II.
Western Division Athlete of the Week
Pitt-Johnstown
John Paul Kromka
Forward
Senior
Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway
Kromka averaged 20.3 points (22-30 FG, 17-22 FT), 11.0 rebounds., 1.3 assists, 2.7 blocks this week in three wins. Kromka scored the game-high 17 pts (5-7 FG, 7-7 FT), game-high 12 rebounds, game-high four blocks, and two assists in a 73-61 win over Mercyhurst on Monday. On Wednesday, he had 13 points (6-10 FG, 1-2 FT), nine rebounds, two assists, three blocks, and a steal in a 77-63 victory at Edinboro. To end the week, Kromka recorded a career-high 31 points (11-13 FG, 9-13 Ft), game-high 12 rebounds, a block and a steal in a 76-72 win at California (Pa.) on Saturday.
Western Division Defensive Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Lashon Lindsey
Forward
Redshirt Junior
Meadville, Pa. / Meadville
Lashon Lindsey had the best defensive week of his career over The Rock’s three games last week as he averaged 2.7 blocks, 2.7 steals and 8.7 rebounds per game. The highlight of Lindsey's week was a six-block, four-steal, 10-rebound performance against Lock Haven. Lindsey also had two blocks and three steals versus top-ranked IUP and produced a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double at Clarion. Lindsey’s six blocks against Lock Haven is tied for the most in a single-game by any PSAC athlete this season.
Women's Basketball
Western Division Athlete of the Week
Edinboro
Rana Elhusseini
Guard
Junior
Dearborn, Mich. / Fordson
Elhussenini led an Edinboro team that started the week fourth in the PSAC West standings to face the three teams ahead of them in the course of six days, going 2-1 in the process. She stuffed the stat sheet averaging 24.0 points, six assists, four rebounds and 3.67 steals per game. She tallied a career high 36 points against IUP on Monday. She is currently the second leading scorer in the PSAC at 20.1 points per game.
Western Division Defensive Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Deleah Gibson
Guard
Redshirt Senior
Cleveland, Ohio / Shaw
Gibson led Slippery Rock to a 3-0 week with wins over Lock Haven (61-57), Indiana (Pa.) (52-48) and Clarion (77-68). Over three games she averaged 20.3 points and 5.7 rebounds while totaling nine assists, eight steals and three blocks. She was key from the foul line shooting 84 percent (21-of-25).
Eastern Division Athlete of the Week
Shippensburg
Ariel Jones
Guard
Senior
Lebanon, Pa. / Cedar Crest
Ariel Jones did just about everything this week. She scored 96 points, averaging 32.0 points per game, while totaling 20 rebounds (6.7 rebounds per game), 11 assists (3.7 assists per game) and seven steals and committing just one turnover in 101:02 of basketball. She shot 46.8% (29-of-62) from the field, including nine three-pointers, and was an incredible 29-of-31 (93.5%) at the free-throw line. The Raiders went 3-0, winning at Millersville on Monday, at home versus Shepherd on Wednesday, and at Lock Haven on Saturday, to improve to 17-3 overall and 12-2 in the PSAC. Shippensburg has a two-game lead over West Chester in the Eastern Division standings. Ariel set some records, too. On Monday at Millersville, Jones scored a career-high 51 points to break the PSAC's single-game scoring record. In doing so, it made her the PSAC career points leader (passing SHIP's Lauren Beckley, 2407) and the NCAA Division II career made free throws leader (WTA&M's Emily Brister, 763). Jones was 15-of-25 (60 percent) from the field, 7-of-14 (50 percent) from the three-point line, and perfect at the free-throw line (14-of-14). She also added a team high of six assists and had six rebounds and two steals without committing a turnover. Her single-game career highs included 7 threes, 100% at the FT line (minimum 10 attempts) and 15 field goals. Her scoring breakdown by quarter was 7-11-11-22. In a Wednesday rout over winless Shepherd, Jones added 18 points and grabbed six boards and went 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. She only played 28 minutes. In a Saturday road win at Lock Haven, Jones led all scorers with 27 points and went 8-of-9 at the free-throw line. She also grabbed eight boards and added four steals and three assists. After her 96-point outburst, Jones finishes the week at exactly 2,500 career points. She becomes the 12th player in NCAA Division II history with 2,500 career points.
Eastern Division Defensive Athlete of the Week
Alana Robinson
Lock Haven
Forward
Freshman
Rockaway, N.J. / Pope John Paul II
Alana Robinson has been the defensive force for the Bald Eagles this week. The freshman is on pace to break the single season school blocks record as she currently leads the conference in blocks at 44. Over the past week, the forward accumulated 11 blocks, nine steals, 27 defensive rebounds, posting her season high six blocks for the second time against Shippensburg. She also posted three straight games with three steals, four games this season with three steals. Her second game this season with double digit defensive rebounds helped secure her first double-double of the season.
Indoor Track & Field
Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
IUP
Kendall Branan
Mid-Distance
Sophomore
Indiana, Pa. / Indiana
Branan won the 800m at the Youngstown State Mid-Major Invite, a very popular meet among PSAC programs. His 800m time was 1:51.56 which is the sixth fastest in DII. IT’s the fastest 800m number in the Atlantic region and is an NCAA Provisional mark.
Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Bryan Dworek
Jumps
Senior
Brookville, Pa. / Brookville
Dworek won the long jump at the YSU Mid-Major Invitational with a career-best leap of 7.31 meters, which ranks No. 18 among all jumpers in DII so far this season. He won in a field of 53 total jumpers that included 12 PSAC athletes and three Division I jumpers.
Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
California (Pa.)
Divonne Franklin
Sprints
Senior
Philadelphia, Pa. / Archbishop Carroll
Franklin again broke the all-time PSAC record in the 60-meter dash over the weekend at the Youngstown State Mid Major Invitational and ranks among the top-five on the national performance list. She posted a time of 7.37 seconds in the 60 meters to eclipse her previous league record set earlier this year by three-hundredths of a second. Franklin won the event by three-tenths of a second and sits fourth on the NCAA Division II Performance List in the event. The Philadelphia native also placed second in the 200-meter dash behind only the defending-Horizon League Champion while reaching the NCAA standard with a time of 24.16 seconds. Additionally, Franklin was a member of the 4x400-meter relay that placed second in Ohio with the second-fastest overall time in the PSAC this winter.
Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Clarion
Shelly Jones
Throws
Senior
Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway
Shelly Jones shattered the program record for the Shot Put and, in the process, hit and NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event, leading the field at the Bison Open and Multi on Friday. Jones threw the implement 13.64m, crushing the program's previous record of 13.07m set by Kari Steuer in 2018. Jones topped that mark on three of her attempts, and her own previous PR in the event was 12.86m.
Wrestling
Wrestling Athlete of the Week
Gannon
Nick Young
Graduate Student
149lbs
Batavia, N.Y. / Alexander
Nick Young, ranked No. 2 in the nation at 149 pounds, helped Gannon to back-to-back road victories by outscoring his two opponents by a combined 31-2. He opened the weekend with a technical fall in Gannon's 29-12 win over Kutztown on Friday. He dominated in the top position while defeating Kibwe McNair 15-0. Young just missed a technical fall when he registered a 16-2 major decision over Brian Lombardi in Gannon's 36-10 victory over East Stroudsburg. His efforts helped the 11th-ranked Golden Knights improve to 7-5 overall and a second-place 4-1 in the PSAC.
Swimming
Men’s Swimming Athlete of the Week
Gannon
Stephen McCallum
Free
Junior
Cape Town, South Africa / Wynberg Boys’
Competing against Division I St. Bonaventure in last Saturday's dual, McCallum notched a pair of individual first-place finishes in the 200 free (time of 1:41.38) and the 100 free (46.22), which are both PSAC qualifying times. He was also a part of the first-place 400 freestyle relay squad (time of 3:08.31.)
Women’s Swimming Athlete of the Week
Gannon
Madalyn Myers
Distance
Sophomore
Murrysville, Pa. / Franklin Regional
Competing against Division I St. Bonaventure in last Saturday's dual, Madalyn won both distance events--beginning in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:44.05 and following it up with a 5:12.49 in the 500 free. Both of those times are PSAC qualifying times.
ABOUT THE PSAC
Headquartered in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference comprised of 18 institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The member institutions are Bloomsburg, California (Pa.), Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Gannon, Indiana (Pa.), Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Mercyhurst, Millersville, Pitt-Johnstown, Seton Hill, Shepherd, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.