Watts, Bancroft Earn Weekly MIAA Hoops Awards

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sanijay Watts (Central Missouri) and Naomi Bancroft (Fort Hays State) have been named MIAA Basketball Student-Athletes of the Week for the week of Dec. 14-20 as selected by a conference SID panel. Watts is honored for the first time this season, while Bancroft picks up the award for the second consecutive week and second time overall this year.
 
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sanijay Watts, F, Central Missouri
Watts led the No. 1 Mules to a 3-0 record this past week, including a win over No. 7 Rollins at the Las Vegas High Desert Classic. In the two games in Las Vegas against Division II opponents, he averaged 27.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, including a career-high 33 points against C.W. Post, a team that was in the 2009 Elite Eight, and a career-high 13 rebounds against No. 7 Rollins. Watts also went 26-of-29 from the free throw line on the week, good for 89.7 percent. The senior from St. Louis, Mo., has scored in double-figures in all 10 games this season, and the Mules are 10-0 for the first time since the record-breaking 19-0 start in 2006-07.
 
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Naomi Bancroft, G, Fort Hays State
Bancroft helped the Lady Tigers finish non-conference play unbeaten (7-0) by scoring a team-high 24 points in the six-point win over Doane College. The senior from Vona, Colo., had nine of Fort Hays State's final 10 points in the game. With FHSU trailing by one point with 3:02 remaining, Bancroft buried a 3-pointer to help FHSU finally overtake Doane for good. She hit two more field goals inside the arc to extend the Lady Tiger lead to six, and then hit two free throws under a minute to hold off Doane. Doane led by 10 points at halftime. It was the third time in the last four games that Bancroft scored at least 20 points. It was the fourth time this year that she scored 20 or more. Bancroft also recorded a team-high five steals in the game. She helped Fort Hays State to its first 9-1 start since the school's only national championship year in women's basketball, 1990-91, as members of the NAIA.