(KJCCC) March 17, 2021 – There are top-notch efforts by conference athletes that lead to recognition in Week 8 of the KJCCC Athletes of the Week voting.

Division II Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week
For the Second week in a row, Sophomore Guard Tiara Earnest led the Kansas City KS Blue Devils offense to a conference win over Fort Scott. Earnest led the blue devils shooting 61% from the field and 44% from three-point range. Tiara scored a career high 30 points in the win over Fort Scott.

Division II Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week
In Johnson County's only action last week, sophomore guard Jaycson Bereal registered his first double-double of his career, finishing with 21 points and 10 rebounds, along with three blocks, to power the No.-2 ranked Cavaliers to a 71-59 conference victory over Labette. He shot an impressive 69 percent from the floor, hitting 9-of-13 shots, including three 3-point shots. For the season he is averaging 13.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and hitting 54.9 percent of his shot attempts, which ranks fourth in the conference.

Division I Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week
Seward County sophomore forward Sierra Morrow had the best week of her season so far with an average of 22.5 points per game, 46.5 shooting percentage, 8.5 rebounds per game, and four rebounds a game. Morrow had her best game of the season on Monday, March 8 against Hutchinson with 39 points, nine rebounds, five blocks in just 30 minutes of action. Morrows 39-point performance is tied for fourth all-time in program history and her 15 free throws are tied for third all-time for the Lady Saints.

Division I Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week
Neosho County Panther sophomore guard Magic Reliford had a huge week after coming off a 35-point performance last week as hot as he ended last week scoring 30 points at Barton County and then put up 33 points in a home win over Indy Saturday night. For the week, Magic Reliford averaged 31.5 points per game shooting an outstanding 45.5% from three-point range. He made 23-43 shot attempts and 10-22 from three-point range. For the week Magic kept his team in the game @ Barton County but fell 93-86… Magic and the Panthers had the bye on Wednesday but came back strong on Saturday beating Independence 82-75.

Division I Volleyball Athletes of the Week
Offensive Player: Jaryn Benning (Butler) - Jaryn Benning, sophomore outside hitter from Topeka, KS posted three double-doubles last week in the Grizzlies 2-1 week. Benning helped the Grizzlies to a 3-1 victory over Colby to start the week, their first win over the Trojans since 2017. Benning followed her 12 kill 19 dig Monday night performance up with a 17 kill and 16 dig night against Dodge City on Thursday. She finished off the week with a 19 kill and 28 dig performance on Friday in the Grizzlies lone loss of the week. Benning hit .247 on the week.

Setter: Isabella Guedes (Barton) - Isabella Guedes didn't have a lot of opportunities to put up big offensive numbers this week in a trio of blowout victories but the freshman did lead the 6-2 scheme in averaging 6 assists per set helping the offense to an overall .303 attack percentage.

Defensive Player: Victoria Gehret (Garden City) - In Garden City's five-set, come-from-behind victory over Butler, Durham was all over the place, posting a season-best 43 digs. She's currently 8th in the nation in that department.

Division II Volleyball Athletes of the Week
KJCCC Division II Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week
Cassidy Crist, Kansas City Kansas Community College Sophomore Outside Hitter, Shawnee, KS - Sophomore outside hitter Cassidy Crist led the Blue Devils to a 4-0 record this week. Cassidy is second in the country with total number of kills with 330 and is sixth in the nation in kills per set, while averaging over 4.5 kills per sets. This past week she averaged an astounding 5.1 kills and 2.7 digs per set. She also passed a 2.2 as a six rotation outside hitter. Her total number of kills for the week was 67.

KJCCC Division II Volleyball Setter of the Week
Adriana Velez, Kansas City Kansas Community College Sophomore Setter, Bayamon, Puerto Rico - Sophomore setter Adriana Velez led KCKCC to a 4-0 week as the team moved up to third in the conference. Adriana runs a 5-1 and is leading the entire NJCAA in total number of assists with 751 and is eighth in the nation while averaging 10.29 assists per set. This past week she averaged an astounding 10.6 assists per set even while running a 6-2 against Hesston College. She also averaged 2.8 digs per set. Her total number of assists for the week was 149 as KCKCC knocked off No. 18-ranked Neosho on the road, beat Cowley College and Hesston College all in 3-0 sweeps.

KJCCC Division II Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week
Michelle Dvorak, Kansas City Kansas Community College Sophomore Middle Blocker, Kansas City, MO - Sophomore middle blocker Michelle Dvorak had a fantastic week for the Blue Devils. Her blocking presence helped propel KCKCC to a 4-0 week and helped them to move up to third in the conference. She averaged almost a block per set, while her offensive numbers were fantastic as well. Her total number of kills for the week was 30 as she averaged 2.71 kills per set.

Division I Softball Athletes of the Week
Player: Madi Young (Butler)
Madi Young, sophomore short stop from Derby, KS, continued her hot hitting streak this past week finishing 10-13 from the plate for a .769 avg in the Grizzlies four wins. Young had eight RBI's, four homeruns, three doubles, one triple, three stolen bases, one walk and zero strikeouts throughout last week. In the field, Young had perfect fielding percentage chalking up four putouts and five assists. On the year, Young is batting .638 with 30 hits, 12 doubles, three triples and four homeruns. She has scored 26 runs, stole 10 bases and has zero strikeouts in her 47 at bats.

Pitcher: Izzy Erickson (Butler)
Izzy Erickson, freshman pitcher from Kimberling City, MO, improved to 7-1 on the year picking up three wins this past week. Erickson started two games and came in relief picking up all three wins. Game one she threw three innings allowing no runs off two hits. She struck out eight of her 11 batters faced. Game two she came in relief pitching the fifth and sixth innings. She gave up one run off two hits and struck out four of her nine batters faced. Thursday, Erickson picked up her third win of the week delivering the Grizzlies three innings of work allowing one run off two hits. She walked one, her only one of the week, and struck out four. Erickson has pitched 30.1 innings this season and has an ERA of 2.08. She has struck out 33 batters and walked just six.

Division II Softball Athletes of the Week
KJCCC Division II Softball Player of the Week
Haley Puccio, Johnson County Community College Freshman Outfielder, Shawnee, KS - Johnson County freshman outfielder Haley Puccio batted .471 (8-for-104) in four games last weekend at the Crowder Bash, with two doubles, a triple, a home run, five runs scored and five driven in. She also stole a base. In the field she was perfect, recording five putouts and three assists with no errors. For the season, Puccio is batting .425 (17-for-40) with six doubles, two triples, two homers, 12 runs and 12 RBI. 

KJCCC Division II Softball Pitcher of the Week
Bradi Basler, Kansas City Kansas Community College Freshman Pitcher, Lansing, KS - The freshman pitcher from Lansing, KS, tossed a no-hitter in a 5-0 win over Ellsworth. Basler struck out 11 and walked four in the complete game no-hitter. She not only threw a no hitter she also helped her cause at the plate by going 4-for-6 with two RBI and four runs scored.

Baseball Athlete of the Week
Connor Scott had multi-hit games in four of the Barton Cougars' six contests, batting .450 with a 1.050 slugging percentage with six extra base connections and 11 runs batted in during his nine hits.

Johnson County freshman third baseman Wyatt Morgan hit .625 (5-for-8) with two homers, five runs and eight RBI in a pair of wins over Labette last week. In the opener, he was 2-for-3 with two runs and a run driven in. Morgan followed with three hits, including two home runs and seven runs driven in. His seven RBI were just one shy of the all-time game mark at JCCC.

Colby freshman Alex Cook had a dominating outing for the Trojans against Dodge City. Pitching 7 shutout innings and only allowing 1 hit in his first win of the season. Cook struck out 15 while only walking 2 to bring his season strikeout total to 24 in just 10.2 innings.