Winthrop’s Gavin and Whitaker earn Big South basketball weekly awards

Winthrop’s Jimmy Gavin and Arianne Whitaker both took home Big South Conference basketball awards for their play last week.

Gavin is the men’s player of the week after scoring 22 points in a win at USC Upstate and a career-high 38 in a close loss to N.C. State.

Gavin - a 6-foot-5 fifth-year transfer from Division II Wisconsin-Parkside - scored 16 points in the second half against Upstate and made 9-of-11 free throws to give the Eagles their first 4-0 start since 2005-06. At N.C. State on Friday, Gavin dropped in 38 points in 36 minutes, the third-highest point total in PNC Arena history. He tallied 22 points in the second half, went 7-of-12 from three-point range and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. Gavin finished the week 16-of-30 from the field, 8-of-18 from beyond the arc and made 20-of-23 free throws.

Whitaker was named Big South women’s basketball’s freshman of the week for the second time. The product of Lakota West High School in Ohio averaged 9.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals, while shooting 65 percent from the floor (9-of-14) in two games.

Whitaker scored a 12 points on 6 of 7 field goal shoot, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots to help lead the Eagles to their first win of the season last Saturday over North Carolina Central. Earlier in the week in a game at Furman, she scored seven points and tied her season-high with nine rebounds. She also made two steals and blocked one shot against the Paladins.

Whitaker and her Eagle teammates will jump into Big South Conference action this week with a road game at Charleston Southern on Tuesday at 7 p.m., before returning home to face Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Winthrop’s Gavin and Whitaker earn Big South basketball weekly awards."