Evelyn Akhator Named a Candidate for Senior CLASS Award

LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky women’s basketball senior post Evelyn Akhator has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2016-17 Senior CLASS Award, which annually honors the best senior student-athletes in the nation based on notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. 

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 

Among the 60 men’s and women’s basketball candidates, all are in excellent academic standing with 10 having grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher. Five of this year’s candidates were 2015-16 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans®, and 20 returned to the court this season after receiving All-America honors for their performances a year ago. Each of the candidates also volunteers his or her time with charitable organizations and causes while upholding a reputation for positive character on campus and in the community.

Each of the 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to fields of 10 finalists in February, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. 

The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four® and NCAA Women’s Final Four® this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com. 

Akhator has been excellent on and off the court for Kentucky since arriving in Lexington last year. The native of Lagos, Nigeria, has played and started in 48 career games averaging 12.0 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. The senior has 21 career double-doubles, ranking fourth most in program history in career double-doubles. This season, Akhator is averaging a double-double with 13.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. 

Away from the court, Akhator has given back to the Lexington community. Each of the last two years, she has packed backpacks for God’s Pantry Backpack Program, which provides local elementary school students with food over the weekend when school meals are not available. Most recently, Akhator spent three hours packing food for families at God’s Pantry Food Bank in Lexington and helped gather items for a Louisiana Flood Relief drive on campus. Akhator is also very active at her local church helping the community through its outreach. 

In the classroom, Akhator has a 3.51 GPA, majoring in community leadership and development. She aspires to be a nurse because she wants to help people. Last spring, Akhator was named to the Southeastern Conference First-Year Academic Honor Roll. 

For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.

 

2016-17 Women’s Basketball Senior CLASS Award Candidates

Lindsay Allen – Notre Dame

EVELYN AKHATOR – KENTUCKY

Sophie Brunner – Arizona State

Nina Davis – Baylor 

Jessica Jackson – Arkansas

Marissa Janning – Creighton

Jessica January – DePaul

Seanna Johnson – Iowa State

Brionna Jones – Maryland

Sigi Koizar – Maine

Kari Korver – UCLA

Kelsey Lang – Texas

Breanna Lewis – Kansas State

Marina Lizarazu – Iona

Erica McCall – Stanford

Taylor McCarley – UMBC

Lanay Montgomery – West Virginia

Adrienne Motley – Miami

Kendall Noble – Western Kentucky

Ellen Nystrom – Colorado State

Kelsey Plum – Washington

Rosanna Reynolds – Detroit Mercy

Leticia Romero – Florida State

Elle Tinkle – Gonzaga

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough – Maryland

Madison Weekly – Northern Iowa

Lizzy Wendell – Drake

Kindred Wesemann – Kansas State

Sydney Wiese – Oregon State

Ronni Williams – Florida