SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced today the Athletes of the Month for March. One athlete is chosen from each sport: men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s golf, baseball, softball and wrestling.
Men’s Basketball
Davidson’s Stephen Curry was the Southern Conference Tournament MVP and the Midwest Regional Tournament MVP. In eight games, Curry averaged 28.9 points, 3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals. Curry shot 51.3 percent from the field, 87.1 percent from the charity stripe and 47.8 percent from behind the arc. Curry scored 19 or more points in all eight games. In the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Curry scored 40 points against Gonzaga and 30 points against Georgetown. In the Sweet 16 Curry scored 33 points against Wisconsin and 25 points against Kansas in the regional final.
Women’s Basketball
Chattanooga’s Laura Hall averaged 16 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists in four games. Hall helped lead the Lady Mocs to their third straight Southern Conference tournament title with 22 points against Western Carolina. In the first round of the NCAA tournament against Kansas State, Hall had 19 points, two steals, two assists and three rebounds. Hall was selected to the All-Southern Conference tournament first team.
Wrestling
Chattanooga’s Cody Cleveland was the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Southern Conference Championships. Cleveland won the 141-pound title with two pins over Appalachian State’s Marcus Cox and Ben Wilmore of Davidson and he earned an automatic qualifying spot at the NCAA Championships. Cleveland was 4-3 at the championship with wins over Harvard’s Corey Jantzen, Zach Bailey of Oklahoma, Tim Harner of Liberty and Kellen Russell of Michigan. Cleveland placed eight and earned All-American honors. He is the fifth All-American in the last four years for the Mocs.
Men’s Tennis
Furman’s Andy Juc was 7-1 at No. 1 singles in March and led the Paladins to a 4-0 record. He was 4-0 in league play with straight sets victories over The Citadel’s Daniel Dossetor, 6-4, 6-4 and Chattanooga’s Badr Bouabdellah, 6-2, 6-1. Juc defeated Georgia Southern’s Emmanuel Nkoueleue, 7-6, 6-1,10-5 and College of Charleston’s Omer Abramovich, 7-5, 6-7, 10-2. Juc also defeated Peter Capkovic of Princeton, Saurabh Kohli of Brown and Felix Bernhoerster of Charlotte. He is currently on a four-match winning streak.
Co-Women’s Tennis
Anna Lee Evans, a sophomore at College of Charleston posted an 11-1 record in singles action and 5-0 in conference action. Evans was 1-1 at No. 3 singles, 5-0 at No. 4 singles and 5-0 at No. 5 singles. Evans lost just 10 games in those five conference matches. Evans has won 11 straight matches and went 9-1 in doubles action with her partner Chelsea Albertz.
Alejandra Guerra, the reigning women’s tennis player of the week, was undefeated in March with an 8-0 record at No. 1 singles and 5-0 in conference action. Guerra lost only 12 games in her five conference matches. Guerra defeated Furman’s Laura Gioia, who was ranked No. 68 by ITA, 6-2, 6-4. She is 7-1 in doubles action with her teammate Arielle VonStrolley.
Baseball
Baseball Pitcher
Elon’s Steven Hensley earned his second pitcher of the month award by pitching 27.2 innings, allowing 11 runs, 23 hits and striking out 34 batters. His record was 3-0 in March with an earned run average of 1.95. Hensley fanned 11 batters against North Carolina A&T and struck out 10 batters against Wofford. Hensley moved into 2nd place on Elon’s all-time strikeout list with 249. Hensley is 15-6 overall and 7-2 in conference action.
Baseball Player
Chris Shehan, a junior from Georgia Southern was named the Southern Conference player of the week twice and was named the Co-National Player of the week. Shehan had 36 RBI’s, 37 hits, 29 runs, seven home runs and nine stolen bases. Shehan had a hit in 16 of his 19 games played and had multiple hit games in 13 of his 19 games. Shehan batting average was .463 with a slugging percentage of .863 and an on base percentage of .557.
Softball
Softball Pitcher
Chattanooga’s Brooke Loudermilk pitched 67.1 innings allowing only 16 runs on 40 hits. She struck out 90 batters and walked just 18. Loudermilk’s earned run average was 1.46 in March. Loudermilk had three games with 10 or more strikeouts. She had 11 against Western Carolina, 14 against Dartmouth and a program tying record of 15 against UNC Greensboro. Loudermilk had three shutouts and is 15-7 overall and 6-0 in conference action.
Softball Player
Robyne Siliga, a junior from Georgia Southern, had four home runs, 13 runs, 24 hits, 14 bases on balls and 18 RBI. Siliga’s had a .429 batting average, .679 slugging percentage and .548 on base percentage in March. Siliga went 4-for-4 with three RBI against Bowling Green and then went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI against George Mason. Siliga became the school’s all-time leader in home runs with 23.
Men’s Golf
Jonathan Hodge of Chattanooga won the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Invitational and the Furman Intercollegiate. He placed fifth at the USA Mobile Bay Invitational and 11th at the Linger Longer Invitational. Hodge has a scoring average of 71.75 for 12 rounds and is ranked 22nd in the Golfstat Cup Standings and 31st in Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings Index.
Women’s Golf
Emma de Groot of Chattanooga won the Samford Intercollegiate and placed third at the Pinehurst Challenge. De Groot helped the Lady Mocs to a pair of top 10 finishes at the Samford Invitational they placed second and at the Pinehurst Challenge they placed seventh. She ranked 34th by Golfstat.com