Stetson’s freshman duo of Amber Porter (Woodbridge, Va., right side of photo) and Brianti Saunders (Hilliard, Fla., left side of photo) swept the league’s weekly awards Monday as Porter captured her first Atlantic Sun Player of the Week honor and Saunders landed her third A-Sun Newcomer of the Week accolade.

The pair helped lead Stetson to victories over Northern Kentucky (74-57) and Lipscomb (112-88) last week, which extended the Hatters’ overall win streak to 16 and home win streak to 15.

Porter averaged 19.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 5.0 blocks for the week.  She led all scorers with 22 points behind 11-for-14 shooting in Stetson’s win over Northern Kentucky on Thursday.  She then registered a near triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and seven blocks in the win over Lipscomb on Saturday.  The 6-3 center became the fifth player in A-Sun history to surpass 100 blocks in a season in that game.

Porter’s 104 blocks is tops in the NCAA among freshman and her .555 field goal percentage leads the Atlantic Sun.

Saunders, meanwhile, averaged 12.5 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game last week.  She shot 66.7% from the floor and 75% from three-point range for the week.  The 5-4 guard scored 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting against Lipscomb, adding a career-high seven assists.

Saunders has hit 33 of her last 35 free throw attempts to improve her season percentage to .813.  She also 10th in the league in scoring (13.0) and 10th in assists (2.6).

Stetson (24-5, 16-1) and FGCU (22-7, 16-1) will square-off at 1 p.m. Saturday in DeLand in a winner-take-all game for the A-Sun regular season title and home court advantage throughout the A-Sun tournament.

Notes: The Hatters have had five A-Sun Players of the Week and eight A-Sun Newcomers of the Week this season.

by Jamie Bataille