APSU Women’s Basketball earns OVC Team Sportsmanship Award

APSU Sports Information

Brentwood, TN – For the first time since the 2013-14 season, the Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team earned the Ohio Valley Conference Team Sportsmanship Award.

On Tuesday the conference office announced the recipients of the 2016-17 accolades for men’s and women’s basketball. Belmont received the honor on the men’s side.

Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.

“Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories,” said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. “The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life.”

The 2016-17 school year marks the 12th year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. It marks the third overall award for the Belmont program (2013-14, 2014-15) and second for the Austin Peay program (2013-14).

Belmont won its fourth OVC regular season championship in its five years in the league this season, compiling a 15-1 league record. The Bruins finished the year 23-7 overall with an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. Senior Evan Bradds was named OVC Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

The Austin Peay team finished the Conference season with an 8-8 record to earn the No. 5 seed for the OVC Basketball Championship. Overall the Governors were 14-16 in 2016-17. The team was led by senior Tearra Banks who was named OVC Player of the Year.

Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator.

Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement,” a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent.  The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.