TORONTO (U SPORTS) – Banky Alade of the Guelph Gryphons men’s basketball team and Isabel Sarty from the Dalhousie Tigers women’s swim team are the U SPORTS Male and Female Athletes of the Week for the period ending November 18, 2018.
Alade's infectious personality has been influential in the Gryphon locker room and now that he's in his third year, the Sherwood Park, Alta., native's play is also impacting the outcome of games, with the case in point coming in the team’s two games this past weekend. Alade filled the stat sheet in back-to-back Gryphon wins this weekend, starting with an incredible performance in Friday night's 81-80 victory over the Nipissing Lakers. The marketing management student had a team-high 22 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. With the score tied 50-50, Alade scored eight straight points to help the Gryphons build a cushion. With his team trailing 80-79 late, he executed a sweet spin move on the baseline, and true to his name, showed amazing touch banking in the game-winning bucket.
But Alade apparently wasn't content with that performance, so he backed it up with a monster game on Sunday in Guelph's 83-76 win over Laurentian. The forward poured in 29 points and grabbed a game-high 20 boards, both of which were career highs. Alade made 12-of-17 attempts from the floor, hit 5-of-6 from the free-throw line, and also had 15 defensive rebounds in one of the best stat lines for any OUA player so far this season.
A second-year neuroscience student from Halifax, N.S., Sarty led the Tigers to a first-place team finish at the 2018 Kemp-Fry Invitational Swim Meet held this past weekend. She dominated the women’s freestyle events, winning the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m swims. She set a new conference and school record in the 100m event which was previously set by fellow Tiger Molly Wedge in 2013. Sarty was also an integral part of all three winning relay teams, including the 400m freestyle relay which also set new AUS and Dalhousie records.
Male nominees:
CW: Lawrence Moore, basketball, Saskatchewan
OUA: Banky Alade, basketball, Guelph (winner)
RSEQ: Abdul Kamane, basketball, Bishop’s
AUS: Stephen Anderson, hockey UNB
Female nominees:
CW: Mario Mongomo, basketball, UNBC
OUA: Rebecca Smith, swimming, Toronto
RSEQ: Jessica Cormier, hockey, Montreal
AUS: Isabel Sarty, swimming, Dalhousie (winner)
- Player bios courtesy U SPORTS member conferences