Williams picks up an award overseas
Even before she could watch her younger — but far from “little” — brother, Mark, play for Duke in the Final Four on Saturday night, Virginia Beach native Elizabeth Williams could enjoy her latest honor.
Williams, 28, recently was named the EuroLeague Women’s Defensive Player of the Year. Playing for Fenerbahce Safiport of Istanbul, Turkey, she led her team to an 11-game winning streak, an 11-3 record and first place in Group B. She has averaged 9.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, earning her the vote from coaches, team captains and media.
Sopron Basket’s Gabby Williams and ZVVZ USK Praha’s Alyssa Thomas — from UConn and Maryland, respectively — were second and third in voting.
Williams is shooting 56.8% from the field and averaging 13.2 points per game on a team whose leading scorer is former Notre Dame player Kayla McBride (19 ppg).
At 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday, homestanding Fenerbahce will face USK Praha of the Czech Republic in a semifinal. The winner will take on the victor between Sopron Basket of Hungary and Avenida of Spain for the championship.
When she returns to the WNBA, Williams will be playing for the Washington Mystics for the first time. She played in 2015 for the Connecticut Sun, which drafted her after she became Duke’s all-time leading shot-blocker, and has been starting for the past six years for the Atlanta Dream. She also became one of the league’s front-and-center voices on social justice.
Local golfers surge: The past two weeks have been one of the best stretches of college golf played in the 757 in a while.
On March 20, Christopher Newport junior left-hander Alex Price won the Jekyll Island Collegiate tournament in Georgia, shooting a Captains-record 11 under par for 54 holes for his first college tournament victory. Forty of the 150 players were nationally ranked in Division III.
This week in the Glenn Heath Memorial at Williamsburg Club, Price lost to teammate Robb Kinder, a New Kent High alum, in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff after the Captains won the team title by 40 strokes. Kinder and Price were at 3-over 147 for 36 holes.
Meanwhile, thanks to a late birdie binge, the Old Dominion men shot a final-round 289 to jump six spots into third place at this week’s Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate in Williamsburg, which Towson won.
Also, William & Mary placed second among 14 teams at its Kingsmill Intercollegiate event, shooting 920 (56 over par) for 54 holes. The Tribe was nine strokes behind champion Delaware.
W&M freshman Emma Lu of Shenzhen, China, was the individual runner-up, the best finish of her collegiate career. She shot 74 on the final day for a 4-over 200.
W&M senior Sarah Houle placed sixth at 10-over 226 for her fourth top-10 finish of the year and the ninth of her career.