By: Denise Gideon - Director of Media Relations/Social Media Western Carolina University
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Catamount Sports
Western Carolina women’s basketball player Jewel Smalls has been named the General Shale Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week for all competition from Dec. 4-10. The selection is made by the league office.
Smalls played 40 minutes in a pair of games for the Catamounts last week, averaging a double-double with 15.5 points and 14 rebounds per contest. The Roswell, Georgia, native logged her eighth double-double of the season in the 69-64 win over Charleston Southern on Dec. 4.
The sophomore guard scored 17 points and pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds, which was nearly half of the Catamounts’ 42 total rebounds. Smalls notched her eighth-straight double-figure scoring performance on Dec. 6 against Cleveland State with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Smalls leads the NCAA in total rebounds with 133 this season while her eight double-doubles rank second nationally. She was also named the November SoCon Women’s Basketball Player of the Month.
The last time a Catamount women’s basketball player was named SoCon Player of the Week and SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week in the same season was former standout Lauren Powell in 2007-08.
Smalls is a sport management major and currently holds a 3.36-grade point average.