Darden Named Big South Co-Freshman of the Week

Radford, Va. . -Radford freshman center Kelli Darden (Chesapeake, Va.) was named Big South Co- Freshman of the Week, announced the Conference office. She shares the award with UNC Asheville’s Stacy Shepard. It is the third time this season that Darden has been honored.

Darden averaged 13.0 points, 4.5 rebounds in a pair of games last week, while shooting .579 percent (11-of-19) from the floor. She had a 12-point, six rebound effort at Charleston Southern, shooting a fiery .714 percent from the field (5-of-7) and tallied two assists and a block. At Winthrop, she scored a career-high 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and added three boards, two steals and a block. The block moved her into fourth place on RU’s single season list with 50.

The Highlanders (12-13, 6-6), who are currently tied for fourth with Charleston Southern, close out the regular season this week with a pair of key home games against the top two teams in the Conference standings. On Wednesday, they host second place High Point (14-11, 9-3) and on Saturday, they will entertain first place Liberty (19-6, 11-1) on senior night. Both games tip at 7 pm.