The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released their ODAC Player of the Week awards for the week of February 8-14 and Roanoke College swept the men’s and women’s awards for basketball. Roanoke basketball players Kasey Draper and Renee Alquiza were honored as the Maroons swept Washington & Lee on back-to-back home games at the Cregger Center.
Draper, a sophomore from Northside High in Roanoke County, lit up the scoreboard with 55 total points over two games to help Roanoke to a pair of wins to improve the Maroons’ season records to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play. Draper opened with 24 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field in an 80-59 triumph over Randolph. He added six rebounds, four assists, and three steals to his line.
Draper then turned up the production and efficiency in a 78-68 victory over Washington and Lee Thursday in Salem. He set a career-high for scoring for a second straight game with 31 points on 9-of-13 from the field and 12-of-14 from the foul line. He also chipped in five rebounds, a block, and a steal as Roanoke rattled off their fifth consecutive win.
For the season, Draper leads the ODAC in total points (116), field goals made (42-of-86) and free throws made (25-of-35). He is fourth in scoring average (19.3) and pulls down 7.3 boards per game.
The RC men have road games at Guilford and Randoph this week before hosting the ODAC’s top team, Randolph-Macon, at the Cregger Center on Saturday. The Yellowjackets are the top-ranked team in the nation in the D3Hoops.com poll.
The RC women will host the University of Lynchburg tonight, followed by a 2 pm home game on Saturday against Shenandoah. The Maroons took a 5-1 record into a Tuesday game with Southern Virginia.
Last week Alquiza, a junior from Cornelius, N.C., put together a strong outing in helping the Maroons improve to 3-1 in ODAC play. Alquiza set a new career-high with 23 points in Roanoke’s 61-52 triumph over Washington and Lee. She went 7-of-12 from the field including 2-of-3 from three-point territory and canned 7-of-8 shots from the charity stripe.
Alquiza is averaging 14.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest. She is second in the ODAC in blocked shots (8), third in field goal shooting (.533), and fourth in field goals made (32-60), three-point shooting (.444), and free throw percentage (.875).
