By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – For the first time in the 13-year history of the award, Tennessee Tech women's basketball has received the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award following the 2017-18 season. The Ohio Valley Conference announced Tech and SIUE men's basketball as the sport's two winners on Tuesday.

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

Tech women's basketball is just the seventh team from Tennessee Tech to earn the award since its inception in August 2005.

"Without sportsmanship, there are truly no meaningful victories," said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. "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."

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.