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Monday, Dec. 17, 2007
THREE FROM BASKETBALL HONORED BY LITTLE EAST
Martin and Simmons for men’s team and McFetridge for women singled out
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Three basketball players have been singled ou
t by the Little East Conference for exceptional playing during the week of Dec. 10-16.
Senior forward Leon Martin (Woodbury/Nonnewaug HS) and freshman point guard Courtney Simmons (Middletown/Xavier HS) have been recognized by the Little East Conference for the second time in three weeks as its top men’s basketball Player-of-the-Week and Rookie-of-the-Week, respectively, while 6-foot-2 inch junior center Ashley McFetridge (Canton/Canton HS) has been selected to the women’s honor role for the second time in three weeks.
The 6-foot-5 inch Martin and 5-foot-10 inch Simmons helped Eastern to a win in its only game of the week – a 96-82 decision at Mitchell College which closed out first-semester play. Martin posted his fourth consecutive double-double with a team-high 24 points and ten rebounds as the Warriors raise their overall record to 5-3 with their fourth straight victory. Martin was 9-of-11 from the field, and 6-of-7 from the foul line.
Simmons scored a career-high 20 points (6-of-10 from the floor) and handed out seven assists which equaled hisseason/career high. He also doubled his season total of three steals with six.
Martin is ranked first in the conference in blocks (2.12 per game) and first in defensive rebounding (6.5), second in scoring (18.0) and rebounding (9.0) and fourth in field goal percentage (.553). During the team’s current four-game winning streak, Martin is averaging a team-leading 25.8 points and 10.8 rebounds and is shooting 65.5 per cent from the floor and 80.6 per cent from the stripe. He needs 68 points for 1,000 in his four-year career.
Simmons is ranked third in the conference in assists (3.0 per game) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.52) and seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.435).
Prior to this season, Martin had earned a spot on the weekly honor roll a total of four times and was selected Rookie-of-the-Week once in 2004/05.
Eastern competes in the Trinity College Classic Jan. 5-6, facing RPI in the opening round at 8 p.m.
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In a 2-0 week, McFetridge averaged 21.0 points and 5.0 rebounds, shot .615 from the floor (16-for-26) and .714 from the foul line (10-for-14) with one blocked shot and two assists. In a 79-62 win over Coast Guard, she scored 11 of Eastern’s first 18 points and finished with a season-high 25 points. After sitting out two minutes with four fouls, she came back with four minutes left in the game and had five rebounds, two baskets and an assist the rest of the way.
On the season, McFetridge averages 14.6 points and a team-leading 7.7 rebounds per game with a team-leading ten blocked shots, and is shooting .522 from the floor and .737 from the foul line. She has led the team in scoring three times in the last six games and has led the team or shared the team lead in rebounding six times in ten games.In the conference, she is ranked third in scoring and rebounding, fourth in field goal percentage., and fifth in blocks per game.
Eastern, which was unbeaten in ten games in the first semester, leads the LEC in scoring defense, scoring margin, FG pct., FG pct. defense, rebounding margin and three-point FG pct.
The Warriors host Middlebury College Jan. 3 at 6 p.m., needing a win to match their best start ever after 11 games.
