Covenant's Blankenship, Soles, Storteboom Earn GSAC Honors
Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Great South Athletic Conference announced its 2012-13 women's basketball honors on Thursday morning and three Covenant players came away with awards. Junior forward Jessie Blankenship was named All-Conference, while Haley Soles and Alexis Storteboom were each selected to the All-Freshmen team.
Blankenship leads the Lady Scots in points per game (14.1) and rebounds per game (7.0) this season while shooting 45 percent from the field. The junior has scored in double figures in all but three games this season and has registered five double-doubles. The native of Lexington, S.C., surpassed both 500 rebounds and 1,000 points for her career during the season and was also selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 team. Blankenship received the third most votes for Player of the Year.
Soles is the second leading scorer for the Lady Scots averaging 10.4 points per contest. She has buried 53 3-pointers to also lead Covenant. Soles, a resident of Bishop, Ga., helped Covenant to an upset win over then-GSAC lead Salem with three consecutive 3-pointers late in the second half as the Lady Scots mounted a comeback that ultimately gave them a 71-70 overtime win.
Storteboom has also made an immediate impact in her freshman season for Covenant. The Lamont, Mich., native is scoring 7.6 points and grabbing 6.9 rebounds per game. She has recorded four double-doubles on the season, including two coming against Salem, and is shooting just over 50 percent from the floor.
"They are all very deserving of these honors," said Covenant head coach Tami Smialek. "They each did an excellent job of stepping up this season."
Salem's Satavia Taylor earned Player of the Year, Pine Manor's Alexis Lee was the Freshman of the Year, and Salem head coach Anita Howard was voted as the Coach of the Year.
The Lady Scots play their final regular season game on Saturday at Warren Wilson in Asheville, N.C. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.