Williams earns SEC honor

FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas center Quistelle Williams earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors the league office announced today.

Williams, a 6-0 center from East Kentwood, Mich., paced the Razorbacks (11-14, 3-9 SEC) to a pair of SEC wins at Auburn and at South Carolina last week.

“We have always been confident in Quistelle’s talent,” Arkansas head coach Tom Collen said. “This past week she took the stage and put together great back-to-back performances.

“Our entire freshmen class is starting to perform well as they gain more confidence and knowledge of what we expect from them,” Collen continued.

Williams has been playing well as of late. She helped Arkansas to the team’s first consecutive SEC wins of the year with victories over the Tigers and Gamecocks. Williams scored eight points and had eight rebounds in a solid win over Auburn and rallied Arkansas from an 18-point deficit, the largest comeback in a conference game, at South Carolina with her first career double-double.

Her 13 points at Carolina tied her career-best and she added 11 boards for a career-high. In addition, Williams had five field goals, 11 field goal attempts, three free throws, five free throw attempts and one block at South Carolina all tying for her career highs.

Williams’ stats have increased as have her minutes. She played 29 minutes at Auburn and 30, a career-high, at South Carolina.

The Razorbacks host Ole Miss Thursday and Alabama Sunday in the final two home games of the 2009-10 season. Sunday’s game is Pink Day and Senior Day at Bud Walton Arena.