ASHLAND, Va. – Sophomore Kelly Williams (Garysburg, N.C./Halifax Academy) picked another pair of honors – this time on a national scale. Williams was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division III National Player of the Week for the third time this season. She was also named to the d3hoops.com Team of the Week as a forward.
The USBWA has honored Williams for the week ending on February 11 and covers her games against Bridgewater and Guilford. Against BC, Williams put up 27 points and collected 20 rebounds while adding five blocks and five assists. She shot 11-15 from the floor in a game where R-MC shot 58% overall. In a 98-82 loss at Guilford, Williams set a new career-high for herself as well as a program-high for Randolph-Macon Women's Basketball, scoring 45 points while hauling in 12 rebounds and five blocks.
It was the third time this season Williams had broken her own career-high marker. She opened the season against #14 Marymount on November 15 with 34 points, breaking her freshman year high of 30. Then, against Shenandoah on January 2, Williams scored 38 points, which remained the program's pinnacle until Williams broke it again this weekend, scoring 45 against the Quakers. Her 45 points now stands alone as the program record for points scored in a game, topping her own 38 and the 38 points Renee Zando scored against Bridgewater on February 12, 1998. Williams' 45 points is the most by any Division III Women's Basketball player this season and is the best scoring performance by any ODAC player in 12 seasons.
This is the third time Williams has been honored by the USBWA this season, which recognized the top player in Division III Basketball each week. Williams is the only athlete on either the men's or women's side of the sport to be recognized three times this season and only one of two athletes to be recognized twice or more. It's also the fourth time across her career she's been honored by the USBWA, which ties her for most decorated player ever honored by the sports writing organization.
Williams was also recognized by d3hoops.com as part of the website's Team of the Week. It's the first time Williams has been recognized by the website as a member of the Team of the Week in her career. D3Hoops picks a team of five Division III Women's basketball players who excelled in the sports each week.
Williams is the national leader for points scored per game, averaging 26.1 ppg – more than two full points better than the second-leading scorer in Division III (Clarissa Perez, La Verne, 23.6 PPG). She is also the nation's leading blocker (4.1 per game) and hauls in the second most rebounds of any player in Division III (18.4 per game). She has scored more points than any other women's basketball player in the country in 2017-18 – totaling 575 points.
Randolph-Macon takes the court tonight against Lynchburg at 7:00 PM in Crenshaw Gymnasium for its Senior Day and Play4Kay/ReeseStrong game.