Women’s Basketball
Samantha Keltos of the Brock Badgers women’s basketball team and Samuel Harvey of the UNB Reds men’s hockey squad are the U SPORTS Male and Female Athletes of the Month for March 2020.
Female Athlete of the Month: Samantha Keltos, Brock
Sam Keltos, a third-year centre from St. Catharines, Ont., posted a game-changing 42 points to lift the Badgers over the Ryerson Rams in the Critelli Cup Final in Toronto on Saturday, Feb. 29.
It was a night to remember for Keltos and the Badgers as she put forth one of the all-time great championship performances to lead her team to victory. She added 12 rebounds for her seventh career double-double, including three steals and a pair of assists.
The OUA Second Team All-Star was nearly perfect from three-point range by hitting eight-of-nine from beyond the arc. The week before, Keltos poured in 17 points and added seven boards to help Brock edge Western 69-65 in the OUA semi-finals.
“This honestly has been the best experience ever,” said Keltos. “The recognition I’ve received has been amazing and I’m so honored to be representing Brock, a school I’ve lived down the street from growing up all my life. Bringing back a banner with this group of girls for the school has been crazy.”
At the U SPORTS Final 8 in Ottawa from March 5-8, Keltos led the Badgers in scoring in every contest as they reached the gold-medal game for the first time in school history. Keltos was named the Nike Top Performer as player of the match for all three games: 24 points versus Calgary (W72-71), 23 points and 17 rebounds vs. UPEI (W69-55) and 21 points versus Saskatchewan (L82-64) in final.
“Sam is a pick and pop big, but also recognizes an inside mismatch when she has it,” said head coach Mike Rao. “It’s easy to draw up plays when you have a player of her calibre.”
Nominees
- CW: Sabine Dukate, basketball, Saskatchewan
- OUA: Samantha Keltos, basketball, Brock (Winner)
- RSEQ: Audrey Leduc, track and field, Laval
- AUS: Jenna Mae Ellsworth, basketball, UPEI
Male Athlete of the Month: Samuel Harvey, UNB
Samuel Harvey, a first-year goaltender from Alma, Que., was named Championship MVP as the Red won their third consecutive AUS title and earned the No. 1 seed heading into the University Cup tournament.
After dropping the opening contest of the series, Harvey rebounded to record 36 saves in a 6-0 victory in Game 2 where he was name Player of the Game. With the conference title on the line, he added another 18 stops in UNB’s 5-1 victory in Game 3, finishing the series with .959 save percentage save percentage, a 1.01 goals-against average and one shutout.
Nominees
- CW: Eric Lutz, track and field, Calgary
- OUA: Andrew Masters, hockey, Guelph
- RSEQ: Jean-Simon Desgagnés, track and field, Laval
- AUS: Samuel Harvey, hockey, UNB (Winner)
- Player bios courtesy U SPORTS member conferences