Monday, February 11, 2008

ASHLI OLIVER NAMED SAC BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum College’s Ashli Oliver has been named the South Atlantic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week, announced league officials Monday.

Oliver, a 5-10 junior from Kokomo, Ind., averaged 21 points per game in leading the Pioneers to a pair of league road wins.  The Taylor High School graduate shot 52 percent from the floor, including 11-of-23 from three-point territory (48%).

In Tusculum’s 82-67 road win at Lincoln Memorial, Oliver poured in 20 points, including five-three pointers.  She followed that effort with 22 markers in TC’s 89-73 win at Catawba.  In that game, the 2007 All-SAC standout went 6-for-12 from beyond the arc, including five treys in the opening half.

Oliver was perfect in her five free throw attempts, while averaging 2.5 rebounds per contest during the week.

Oliver leads the SAC in three-point field goals made per game and her 257 career 3-pointers are second all-time in South Atlantic Conference history (13 shy of the all-time SAC mark).

Tusculum’s 19-3 record matches the best start to a season in school history (through 22 games).

The win is Oliver’s first of the season and the second of her career, having previously won the award on November 27, 2006. She is the second Tusculum player to win the award this season, with Jasmine Gunn’s three wins earlier this year. A TC player has won the award four of the last five weeks.

The Pioneers (19-3, 9-1) return to action this Wednesday when they host Wingate in a SAC showdown at Pioneer Arena. Tusculum is riding a four-game winning streak and has won 16 of its last 17 outings. That lone setback was an 89-80 loss at Wingate last month.

The South Atlantic Conference Basketball Player of the Week is selected by a vote of the league’s sports information directors.

- SAC -