Miami's Williams and Maryland's Thomas Earn ACC Women's Basketball Weekly Honors
Student-athletes register new personal bests last week en route to ACC accolades brought to you by Chevrolet.
Miami's Riquna Williams

Miami's Riquna Williams

Jan. 17, 2011

ACC Players of the Week Presented by Chevrolet

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Miami junior guard Riquna Williams and Maryland freshman forward Alyssa Thomas earned Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Player and Rookie of the Week honors brought to you by Chevrolet for the period ending Jan. 16.

The accolades are voted on by the league's "Blue Ribbon Panel," which consists of national and local media members, as well as school representatives. The panelists will also vote on the ACC's postseason All-Conference teams for the 2010-11 season.

The Player of the Week award, which was the first unanimous selection of the year, marked the third for Williams this season and fifth over her career - the most among active ACC players. The honor is just the 13th time a Miami student-athlete has won the ACC Player of the Week accolade since the Canes' joined the league in 2004. Thomas earned her third ACC Rookie of the Week honor, trailing only Georgia Tech's Ty Marshall (5) for this season.

Williams' two-game stretch over the past week was the best of her career as she scored 29 points against Clemson and 33 points in Miami's victory over visiting Boston College. Both contests Williams set new season-highs, while also hitting a season-high six 3-point field goals. The Pahokee, Fla. native hit 50 percent of her field goals on the week and 57 percent from beyond the arc.

Maryland's Alyssa ThomasThomas notched her second-straight double-double against Boston College last Thursday night with her 18-point and career-high 13-rebound performance. At Clemson, she nabbed a career-high seven steals and put the Terrapins back on top in the first half with 15 points. The newcomer from Harrisburg, Pa., is averaging 16.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game in ACC play.

ACC women's basketball action continues tonight as Georgia Tech travels to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest and 10th-ranked North Carolina welcomes second-ranked Connecticut in non-conference action. Both games will be broadcast on television as the Jackets and Deacs tip-off at 7 p.m. ET on the league's regional sports network (RSN) and the Huskies and Tar Heels square off at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.