Wednesday, February 15, 2017
by Alaska Anchorage Athletic Communications

ROLLA, Mo. – Alaska Anchorage senior Autummn Williams has been named the United States Basketball Writers Association’s NCAA Div. II Women’s Basketball National Player of the Week, adding the honor alongside her Great Northwest Athletic Conference award.

The 5 foot, 10 inch forward totaled 65 points on 60 percent shooting, nine rebounds, eight assists, seven steals and just four turnovers in a team-high 67 minutes, helping UAA beat Northwest Nazarene 78-70 and Central Washington 69-48, and becoming the first Seawolf in the GNAC era (since 2001-02) to score at least 30 points in back-to-back games.

Williams’s national weekly honor is the first for a Seawolf women’s player in the GNAC era, and she is the first player since 2008-09 and just the third in GNAC history to earn four league player-of-the-week honors in the same season.

On Thursday, the Rochester, N.Y., native scored a career-high 34 points on 14-of-23 shooting, dished three assists and snagged five steals to power No. 2 ranked UAA to its biggest comeback of the season, erasing a 45-35 second-quarter deficit against the Crusaders in Idaho.

On Saturday in Ellensburg, Williams poured in 31 points on 11-of-19 accuracy, plus five assists and five rebounds to help UAA to its 19th straight win, along with program-record streaks 19 straight road wins and 16 consecutive league road wins.

A one-year transfer from Division I Little Rock, Williams ranks third in the GNAC and 10th nationally in scoring with 21 points per game – on pace for the third-highest average in Seawolf history.

The award for Williams is the second for a GNAC women's basketball player this season and the fourth for a GNAC basketball player. Western Washington's Taylor Peacocke was selected for the USBWA award on Jan. 24.