FOREST, Va. – Anna Giannopoulou (Athens, Greece) of the Guilford College women's basketball team was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Division III National Player of the Week for the week ending on December 14^th, becoming the first Quaker ever, from either the men's or women's basketball programs, to earn the distinction as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon.

The senior was brilliant with a pair of double-doubles for the Quakers, finishing with averages of 20.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, 5.0 assist, 3.5 blocks, and 2.0 steals all while shooting .652/.500/.667 (15-23/2-4/8-12) and guiding Guilford to a 2-0 week.

In a blowout victory, 70-52, over Pfeiffer on Thursday night, Giannopoulou put together potentially the top all-around exhibition of her career. Brilliantly efficient, she connected on seven of her nine shots from the field, plus all five of her free throws on her way to 19 points, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. She tacked on a baker's dozen caroms, her highest total since she was a freshman and one-shy of her then career-high of 14, and dished six assists, again just one-short of her career-best total. In addition, the Greek forward matched her career-high with four blocks and claimed a trio of steals while registering a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio in the game. The best reflection of her dominance is that Giannopoulou paced all players in each of the five major statistics in the contest, holding sole possession with game-high marks for scoring, rebounding, assists, and blocks, as well as a share of the game-lead for steals.

Giannopoulou was as good, if not better, in her follow-up performance for Guilford, notching a second-consecutive double-double. In the game, she netted 21 points and grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass. Making 8-of-14 from the field and 2-for-4 from three, her only blemish on the week came in the form of a 3-of-7 performance at the charity stripe. Finishing tied for the team-lead with four assists with a 1.33 assist-to-turnover ratio while tacking on three blocks and a steal, the senior was central to Guilford's effort in handing Johnson & Wales University (N.C.) just their second loss of the season by a score of 88-75.

Returning to her prior All-Region form this winter, Giannopoulou leads Guilford in scoring, rebounding, and blocks, with 16.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.44 blocks on a per-game basis residing within the national top-150 in each category. She is also second on the Quakers in assists, with 29, and third in steals, with 17 on the season while leading GC to a program-best 9-0 open to the campaign.  

The first Guilford basketball player ever to be named USBWA National Player of the Week, regardless of gender, she is the second Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) honoree this season after Washington & Lee University's Mary Schleusner claimed the honor to open the year back on November 9^th. The W&L forward has won the award six times across the last three seasons, but prior to her a member of the ODAC had not gotten this weekly recognition since the 2019-20 campaign. Overall, Giannopoulou is the fifth women's basketball player from the ODAC to get the honor since it was first distributed 11 seasons ago.

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