GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University men's basketball forward Malachi Hale and women's basketball forward Carleigh Wilson have been named the Zaxby's Athletes of the Week.
Hale averaged 20.0 points and shot 71.4 percent from the field as the Pioneers picked up South Atlantic Conference victories over Newberry (57-55) and Mars Hill (83-59). In the win over Newberry on Tuesday, Hale had a team-high 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including four three-pointers in six attempts, and grabbed five rebounds. Hale followed with his third 20-point game of the season in Saturday's victory over Mars Hill, nailing five three-pointers in eight tries and scoring a game-high 24 points along with eight rebounds in 26 minutes.
The Kingsport, Tennessee native is second on the Pioneers in scoring at 15.1 points per game and third in rebounding at 5.8 per game. Hale ranks third in the conference with 24 three-pointers in eight games (3.0 per game), and is 14 for his last 21 attempts (66.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
Wilson filled the scoresheet in two victories last week, averaging 9.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. In Tuesday's 74-66 win over Newberry, Wilson had eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots while going 3-for-5 from the field and 2-for-4 on three-pointers. On Saturday, Wilson scored eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter and posted a team-best eight rebounds, four assists, four blocks and three steals in 28 minutes as the Pioneers defeated Mars Hill 78-74.
For the season, the Murfreesboro, Tennessee native is averaging 7.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, and ranks fifth in the SAC with 1.8 blocked shots per game. Wilson is the only player in the league averaging at least 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocked shots per game.
The Tusculum University Athlete of the Week Award is sponsored by Zaxby's, located at 3280 Andrew Johnson Highway in Greeneville. The Zaxby's Athlete of the Week Award honors one male and one female athlete each week from an in-season sport.
