Estes, Miller nominated for weekly GAC award
RUSSELVILLE — Guards Hailey Estes, a sophomore at Henderson State University, and Morgan Miller, a senior at Ouachita Baptist University, were among eight nominees this week for the Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the ninth week of the season.
The league office announced Monday this week’s honors are shared by Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Hailey Tucker and Arkansas Tech’s Lyrik Williams. The other nominees were Southern Nazarene junior Adrienne Berry, Oklahoma Baptist junior McKenzie Cooper, Northwestern Oklahoma State freshman Selena McDonald, and Southern Arkansas junior Olivia McWilliams.
Estes, of Conway, notched back-to-back double-doubles in two road wins by Henderson at East Central (4-6, 3-3) on Thursday and Southeastern Oklahoma State (7-5, 5-2) on Saturday. The sophomore had 16 points,
14 rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes as the Reddies downed East Central, 82-78. She grabbed 15 rebounds to go along with 10 points as Henderson won 56-49 at Southeastern.
Miller, of Siloam Springs, averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds against Southeastern and East Central. The Lady Tigers lost 76-67 at Southeastern on Thursday before ending their two-game skid with a
58-49 victory Saturday at East Central. Ouachita Baptist teams will host the University of Arkansas at Monticello Thursday at Bill Vining Arena before traveling to Searcy on Saturday to face Harding.
Henderson has now won four straight games and seven of the last eight. The Reddies will be on the road in Russellville on Thursday to face Arkansas Tech before hosting Monticello on Saturday.
The GAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week was Chandler Rickey, a senior forward for Oklahoma Baptist. Also nominated was Da’Rion King, a junior forward for East Central. King averaged 20.5 points per game against Henderson and Ouachita.
The other nominees for the men’s award were Southern Arkansas junior C.J. Elkins, Arkansas Tech junior Jerami Grace, Northwestern Oklahoma State senior Cody Halvorson, Southern Nazarene junior Noah Starkey, and Harding senior Tim Wagner.