OCCAC Honors Four Student-Athletes With D-II, D-III POTW Recognition

By Nicholas Huenefeld/OCCAC Sports Information

Springfield, Ohio---Hadith Tiggs, Brenda Pennington, Mario Young and Keyvona Davis have been named the OCCAC D-II and D-III player of the week recipients for games played Jan. 23-29.

NJCAA Division II OCCAC WBB Player of the Week
Brenda Pennington, Owens C.C.

Pennington averaged 16 points, six rebounds, 7.5 assists and three steals for Owens Community College, which picked up a pair of wins over Lakeland Community College and Cincinnati State on the road.

In a 91-30 win over Lakeland, Pennington went 6-for-10 from the field with 12 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two steals. Then, in a 76-55 win over Cincinnati State, she had 20 points (18 in the second half) on 7-for-15 shooting along with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Pennington is now averaging 10.1 points, five assists, four rebounds and 1.7 steals per game for Owens (21-0, 8-0 OCCAC). In OCCAC play, she is averaging 11.5 points, 7.8 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. She leads the conference in assists per game. Her team will be back in action on Wednesday against Cuyahoga Community College on the road.

Pennington is the fourth player from the Owens women's basketball team to win player of the week recognition this year. She joins Ariel Bethea (Dec. 4, Jan. 1), Jeryn Reese (Nov. 14) and Kaylah Ivey (Nov. 21).

NJCAA Division III OCCAC WBB Player of the Week
Keyvona Davis, Columbus State C.C.

Davis, meanwhile, leads the conference in rebounding after another big week. The sophomore forward averaged 19 points on 14-for-23 shooting along with 17.5 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal per game in wins over Clark State Community College and Lorain County Community College.

In a 97-62 win over Clark State, Davis had 20 points, 20 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal. Then, in a 93-46 win over Lorain County, she had 18 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and three assists. She now has double digit rebounding totals in seven of the past eight games, including games of 20, 20, 16, 15 and 15.

Davis is now averaging 10.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.6 assists per game for Columbus State (7-10, 4-4 OCCAC). In OCCAC play, she is averaging 11.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.9 assists per game. Her team will host Sinclair on Wednesday.

Davis becomes the fourth player from Columbus State's women's basketball team to garner D-III OCCAC player of the week recognition over the past six weeks. She joins Hunter Kershaw (Jan. 22), Allyse Rutter (Jan. 15) and Carli Codner-Pinto (Dec. 18, Jan. 1).

NJCAA Division II MBB Player of the Week
Hadith Tiggs, Edison C.C.

Despite his team losing twice last week, Tiggs averaged 22.5 points on 17-for-27 shooting along with nine rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.5 steals per game last week for Edison.

In a 94-69 loss to Cincinnati State, Tiggs had 22 points, nine rebounds, two assists and one steal. Then, in an 81-76 loss at Sinclair, he had 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

The freshman guard is now averaging 13.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 steals per game this year for Edison (11-8, 1-7 OCCAC). In conference play, he is averaging a team-high 14.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and one steal per game. His team will be back in action Wednesday at home against Lorain County.

The selection of Tiggs represents the first player of the week award for Edison men's basketball this season after Malik Thurman (Feb. 7, Dec. 13) and Cody May (Nov. 29) won it last year.

NJCAA Division III MBB Player of the Week
Mario Young, Columbus State C.C.

Young picked up his third OCCAC D-III player of the week award of the season after averaging 21 points, 4.5 rebounds, three assists and 2.5 steals per game as his team split a pair of games against Clark State Community College and Lorain County Community College.

In his team's 105-52 win over Clark State, Young had 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting along with four rebounds, four steals and three assists. He then closed the week with 24 points on 10-for-19 shooting along with five rebounds, three assists and one steal.

The freshman forward is now averaging 20.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game for Columbus State (5-11, 3-5 OCCAC). In conference play, Young is averaging 20.6 points, six rebounds, 3.4 assists and two steals per game. 

In addition to Young's three D-III player of the week awards, his teammate Matthew Gierhart has also won the award twice (Dec. 11, Jan. 15).