OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Sixty NCAA® men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court were selected as candidates today for the 2018-19 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate basketball, and of the 30 women’s candidates, three hail from BIG EAST schools. Marquette’s Allazia Blockton, DePaul’s Mart’e Grays and Butler’s Tori Schickel were all recognized. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of candidates follows this release.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Blockton, who is also a finalist for the WBCA Wade Trophy award (given to the nation's top player at the end of the season), is the program's first Senior CLASS Award candidate since Krystal Ellis ('09) in 2008. The Milwaukee native leads the team and the BIG EAST Conference in scoring average at 19.3 points per game this season, which also ranks in the top-50 nationally. She is just 49 points away from breaking Ellis' scoring record of 1,940 points and recently became the program's all-time leader in career field goals made (721).
Grays led DePaul in scoring and averaged more than 15 points a game in conference play last season. She went on to earn All-BIG EAST First Team honors and led the Blue Demons to their fifth consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title, third conference crown in the last five years and to their 16th-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament. She began the 2018-19 season being one of only 20 players in the country selected for the prestigious Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award presented by the Naismith Hall of Fame and was named to the 2018-19 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team. Grays is an excellent student with a 3.345 GPA. Last season, she was selected to the Athletic Directors Association national Scholar-Athlete team. She is a two-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and a two-time recipient of the Shirley Becker Academic Award. Grays also actively participates in a wide range of community-service initiatives.
Schickel is on track to graduate in the spring and holds a 3.2 grade-point average. She is majoring in Healthcare and Business. The three-time team captain has volunteered at the Peyton Manning's Children Hospital, Gleaners, The Ronald McDonald House and packaged food for the Million Meal Movement. On the court, Schickel is attempting to become just the third player in school history to finish her career with over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. She reached 1,000 points as a junior and heads into the month of December with 1,306 total points. She most recently pulled down eight rebounds in a win over Illinois State to reach 900.
The men’s and women’s candidates will be narrowed to two fields of 10 finalists in February, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C’s of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four® and NCAA Women’s Final Four® this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
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