| Drewniak Named TSN/Sylvia Sweeney Award Winner | ||
| March 8 - March 8 - Friday evening at the CIS Women's Basketball Championship awards banquet in Hamilton, Bison women's basketball player Anna Drewniak was named as the TSN/Sylvia Sweeney Award winner. The award which was first given out in 1993-1994 is presented annually by the The Sports Network to reward excellence in the student-athlete. The award is named in honour of Sylvia Sweeney, a past basketball athlete of McGill, Concordia and Laurentian University who excelled both on the court as well as in the classroom. She played on three Olympic teams and now continues to support university basketball. The recipient of this award exhibits outstanding achievement in three areas: basketball, academics, and community involvement. There could not be a more fitting candidate for the award this year than Drewniak. On the court, she is coming off an outstanding season that started in the pre-season where she was named an All-Star in three consecutive non-conference tournaments. The fourth year veteran used that great start as a springboard to an even better regular season that saw her finish second in Canada West in rebounds per game with 8.6 and tenth in conference scoring with an average of 13.7 points per game. In recognition of her solid play, the 5'11" post/forward was named a Canada West Conference All-Star for the second straight year as well as a Great Plains Divisional All-Star. Back in January, she led her team to a pair of upset victories over the then #1 ranked Winnipeg Wesmen and for her play in that weekend series, she was named the Canada West Female Athlete of the Week after averaging 14.5 PPG and 10 rebounds. Game one of that series was also the women's basketball edition of the Duckworth Challenge and Drewniak received the nod as the Bison MVP of the game after scoring 13 points and grabbing 13 boards. The consummate team player and leader, Drewniak's inspired play against the Wesmen back in January lit a fire under her teammates as they went on to win eight straight and nine of their last 10 games from January 9-February 2 and in the process qualify for the post-season. When she is not hitting the hard-court for practice or games, Drewniak is hitting the books. The graduate of St.Mary's Academy is working on a Bachelor of Science degree and over the course of the past three years her G.P.A. is a cumulative 4.25 out of 4.5. Those numbers have earned her three straight Academic All-Canadian awards as well as a place on the Dean's honor list for three years running.In addition, Drewniak has also been awarded the University of Manitoba Students Union Scholarship for the past two years. For most student-athletes, maintaining a high-level of play and a high level of academic standing would be more than enough to fill one's plate, but Drewniak still finds the time to get involved and give back to her community. Over the course of the last number of years, she has been a coach at various Bison basketball clinics and camps, a volunteer reader and speaker at numerous elementary, junior high, and high schools as well as a recreational assistant at the Lions Club Personal Care Centre. Drewniak has also volunteered at the Health Sciences Centre over the past three years in the General, Rehabilitation and Children's Hospitals in a variety of roles. Drewniak is the first Bison women's basketball player to win this prestigious award since its inception in 1993-94 and joins 4 other Bison players and one coach as winners of National awards over the course of the last 25 years. CIS
Championship MVP Nan
Copp Award (Outstanding Player in the CIS) Rookie
of the Year Defensive
Player of the Year Peter
Ennis Award (Coach of the Year) |