AMERICUS, Ga. -- Women's basketball guard Ava Jones and men's basketball guard Lars Nilsen have been named the Georgia Southwestern State University Department of Athletics top performers for the month of December.
Jones, a 5-foot-7 junior from Carencro, La., averaged 16.3 points over four games for the Lady Hurricanes, who went 4-0 for the month. She connected on 63.4 percent of her shot attempts, had 2.3 steals per game and 2.5 assists while averaging 26.5 minutes of action. Jones scored 28 points on Dec. 30 to lead Georgia Southwestern to a 97-40 victory over Thomas University. Jones currently ranks second in the Peach Belt Conference in field goal percentage (59.1), fifth in steals per game (2.7), sixth in scoring average (15.1) and 16th in assists per game (2.5).
Nilsen, a 6-foot-4 freshman from Skien, Norway, averaged 12.8 points over four games for the Hurricanes. He connected on 51.4 percent of his shot attempts, including 50 percent from beyond the arc, while averaging only 18 minutes of action. In Nilsen's first game of the season with significant playing time, he scored 19 points in 21 minutes on Dec. 7 at Fort Valley State. Nilsen closed out the month strong with a career-high 21 points in the Storm Dome against Middle Georgia State University on Dec. 31. Overall, he made 10 of 20 from long range in December, 5 of 6 from the free throw line and grabbed nine rebounds during his 72 minutes on the floor.
GSW coaches nominate athletes and vote for the recipients of the award each month.