BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech women's basketball received the 2019-20 Ohio Valley Conference Team Sportsmanship Award, announced by the league office on Friday.
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.
"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."
This marks Tech's second OVC Team Sportsmanship Award in the past three seasons.
The Golden Eagles (17-13, 10-8) produced their second winning season in a row and earned their second-straight OVC Tournament berth. Tech also produced its best winning streak since the 2000-01 season, winning 11-straight contests, surpassing its longest streak of nine games during the 2018-19 season, including eight-straight OVC wins to open conference play this season.
The Team Sportsmanship awards were instituted in 2005 and stand as the OVC's newest addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the league. In 1998, the OVC established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and the NCAA.
In 1995, the OVC 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.
