ST LOUIS –Kelly Williams (Garysburg, N.C./Halifax Academy) has been named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division III National Player of the Week for the second time during her sophomore campaign.
The honor covers the Randolph-Macon games against Lycoming and Johns Hopkins and is for the week that ended on December 31, 2017.
Williams helped the Yellow Jackets go 2-0 over the nominating period. On December 18, she played a crucial role against the Lycoming Warriors in a 70-63 win for R-MC. Williams finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds as well as five blocks in that game. On Saturday night, Williams pushed Randolph-Macon ahead for the 71-64 overtime victory against Johns Hopkins. Williams got five critical 4th quarter blocks that helped ensure the game stayed close. She also scored 22 points and hauled in 22 rebounds in the game as well as totaled nine blocks in the whole game. Her nine blocks is a national individual game high, tying Williams with three other women's basketball student athletes, including fellow ODAC player Madeline Suhr of Roanoke, who blocked nine shots against Southern Virginia on December 8.
Last night against Shenandoah (in a game not included in the nominating period), Williams tied a program record with 38 points. She also hauled in 18 rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocks.
Through games last night, Williams is now the top rebounder, blocker and scorer in the country for women's Division III basketball. She is averaging 25.2 points per game (tied for first with Kendrea Williams of FDU-Florham) and 19.5 rebounds per game. She is also averaging 4.27 blocks per game. With last night's game against the Hornets, Williams is also second in the country for most double-doubles with 10 in 11 games.
She also leads the conference in all of the above categories.
Williams has been named the USBWA National DIII Player of the Week once already this season and has earned the honor three times in her career. She was honored for the first week of the 2017-18 season, which ended on November 20, 2017. She is the first player to earn the honor twice this season. She also earned the honor in the 2016-17 season for the week ending on January 10, 2017. Williams has earned four ODAC Player of the Week nods this season, including for the most recent week, which ended on January 2. All-in-all, Williams has been named ODAC Player of the Week eight times in her career. DIIINews also named her a Division III Player of the Month for the month of November 2017.
Randolph-Macon (9-2, 2-1 ODAC) returns to the hardwood on Saturday against the ODAC preseason favorites, the Eastern Mennonite University Royals, at 4:30 PM in Harrisonburg.