Tulane’s Krystal Freeman repeats as conference player of week

Sophomore is Tulane’s first back-to-back league player of the week since 2011

NEW ORLEANS – For the second consecutive week, Tulane forward Krystal Freeman has been named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week, the league announced Monday.

Tulane women’s basketball played just one game last week, but Freeman put up numbers that would be impressive even for two games.

The sophomore led Tulane with 17 points and set a career high with 20 rebounds against ECU on Saturday. Those 20 rebounds tie for the second-highest total in program history and were the most rebounds at Tulane since 2011. Freeman’s double-double was the third of her season, and her rebounds were perfectly balanced as she had 10 on the offensive glass and 10 on the defensive glass. Tulane defeated ECU by 11 in its first conference game of the year.

Freeman was named Player of the Week last week after a double-double on December 29 against Central Michigan and a 10-point effort against Florida A&M on December 30 in the Miami Holiday Classic. She was named MVP of that tournament. She had made the league honor roll twice this year before last week.

The sophomore’s Player of the Week honor is the fourth all-time for a Tulane player in the American Athletic Conference, and Freeman is the only player in team history who has won The American’s weekly honor twice.

Freeman is the first Tulane player to win the league Player of the Week award in back-to-back weeks since Tiffany Aidoo claimed Conference USA Player of the Week honors on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10, 2011.

Later Monday, Freeman was also named the Louisiana Sportswriters Association Player of the Week and the CollegeSportsMadness.com Conference Player of the Week.

Freeman and the rest of the Green Wave return to the court Tuesday for their first road game in American Athletic Conference play this year. The Green Wave will be facing off against Temple in Philadelphia with tipoff set for 6 p.m. central.