Lady Mocs Keiana Gilbert Wins Weekly ESPN National Award

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman Keiana Gilbert was selected the National Player of the Week by writers from ESPN for her performance last week against Austin Peay and No. 4 Tennessee at home.

Charlie Creme, Graham Hays, Michelle Smith and Mechelle Voepel each vote to determine espnW’s national player of the week, which is awarded every Monday of the women’s college basketball season.

Gilbert led the Mocs to a 67-63 win over fourth-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday last week just two days after posting the first double-double of her career in Chattanooga’s win over Austin Peay.

Against the Lady Vols, Keiana was 11-of-19 from the field and made 5-of-7 free throws for her 27-point performance, the most by a Chattanooga player this season. She added five rebounds and a key block late in the game to secure the win against the highest-ranked foe UTC has ever defeated.

She added that stat line to her Monday performance against Austin Peay where she had 13 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and four steals. Keiana shot 50 percent or better in both games making 57.9 percent of her attempts against the school from Knoxville.

For the week, Keiana shot 16-of-29 (55.2%) making one of her 3-point attempts against the Lady Govs. She added seven free throws for the week and had 17 rebounds with 10 coming on the offensive end.

Keiana entered the starting lineup on a very young squad, joining her sister Aryanna who led Chattanooga in its win over Austin Peay. She had 26 points in the win over APSU, making a scorching 76.5 percent of her shots from the floor (13-of-17) and had a career-best eight rebounds.

Chattanooga’s 40-game home court win streak – then the longest active in the nation – was snapped in the second game this season. It was a streak that included the Mocs’ 80-71 win over then No. 20 Tennessee on Nov. 9, 2012 at the Roundhouse.

The Mocs, led by Hall of Fame coach Jim Foster in his second season, are on the road Monday night at Arkansas State for the first meeting between the two teams. Chattanooga is 4-2 on the year while the Red Wolves are 2-2. Arkansas State started the season with a win over Jackson State in the Preseason WNIT before falling to Mississippi State and Colorado in the tournament. On Friday, the Red Wolves returned to the win column with a 79-39 win over Christian Brothers.

Tonight’s game tips at 8:05 p.m. Eastern time.