Tennessee’s Jaime Nared and Connecticut’s Gabby Williams are this week’s Wade Watch Spotlight players for their tremendous performances last week (Feb. 1 through Feb. 6).
Nared was the star for the Lady Volunteers in their 82-67 win over No. 14 Texas A&M. She posted a team-high 23 points while shooting an excellent eight of 15 from the floor. She also stepped up big for her team and made six of her eight free throws. The senior from Portland wasn’t just a scorer as five of her six rebounds came on the defensive end. She also ranked second on the team with four assists. The senior guard/forward shined even brighter in the Lady Volunteers’ 74-64 win at Vanderbilt. She put up a game-high and season-high 30 points on seven of 14 shooting. Nared turned it on in crunch time scoring 16 of her 30 points in the final five minutes against the Commodores. Her fabulous shooting at the foul line continued as she went 15 of 17 from the charity stripe, which was good enough to tie the fourth-most ever by a Lady Vol. The Tennessee senior also pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds to tally her 18th career double-double.
Williams was on fire last week shooting a combined 70.5 percent (12 of 17) in Connecticut’s wins over then No. 6 South Carolina and Cincinnati. She tipped off the week going six for eight from the field for 14 points at South Carolina. She followed it up by shooting six of nine for 13 points in Huskies’ 106-65 win over Cincinnati. In both games, the 5-foot 11-inch senior posted team-highs in both rebounds and assists. Williams pulled down 14 rebounds and dished out five assists at South Carolina. She followed that performance up with 10 rebounds and seven assists in the win over Cincinnati. Her seven assists against the Bearcats put her over the 400-career assist mark. Williams also logged her fourth and fifth double-doubles of the season.