By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – MacKenzie Coleman has been named the adidas® OVC Freshman of the Week, as announced by the Ohio Valley Conference on Tuesday in its latest weekly report of the 2017-18 season.
Coleman, a 6'3" post out of Edmonton, Kentucky, played two of her best games of the season last week on the road. At SIUE, she put up a career-high 22 points, tied a career-high of 12 rebounds and also had five blocks. Two days later, she helped the Golden Eagles to their first win over Eastern Illinois in Charleston in seven years, collecting another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in just 22 minutes of play.
Coleman has five double-doubles to her credit this season, with all of them coming in OVC play. She has also scored in double-figures in 13 of Tech's 23 games.
In league games, Coleman is tied with teammate Jordan Brock for 14th in scoring (13.3 points per game), ranks sixth in rebounding with 7.6 per game (the only underclassman in the top 10) and ranks third in blocks with 2.3 per game (the only underclassman in the top five) of all OVC players.
With 43 blocks and six games left in the regular season, Coleman has a good chance to break the Tech freshman record in blocked shots. 1999 Tennessee Tech Hall of Fame inductee Melinda Clayton Hatfield currently owns that record, having blocked 51 shots as a freshman in 1986-87.
Coleman is the third Tech freshman to receive this honor in the 2017-18 season (Jordan Brock and Kesha Brady have each won it once). Only once before in program history have three different Tech freshmen been named OVC Freshman of the Week in the same season (in 2004-05, Kristina Tyler, Stefanie Holbrook and Marissa Hensley were each freshman of the week at one point).
