Johnson, Simerly garner Bojangles Athlete of the Week honors
December 2, 2014

Johnson, Simerly garner Bojangles Athlete of the Week honors

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman men’s basketball’s Jared Johnson (Springfield, Mass.) and women’s basketball’s Jecca Simerly (Morristown, Tenn.) have been named Bojangles’ Male and Female Athletes of the Week.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman men's basketball's Jared Johnson (Springfield, Mass.) and women's basketball's Jecca Simerly (Morristown, Tenn.) have been named Bojangles' Male and Female Athletes of the Week. 

Johnson averaged 15.5 points, two rebounds and two assists for his week as the Eagles went 1-1 over the last week.  Johnson's 14 points in an 87-65 win over USC Aiken – a Final Four team from a year ago – helped highlight the week. 

Johnson averaged three treys per game as well – nearly triple his career average of made threes per game.  He started his week by scoring 17 points against the Mars Hill Lions in a loss. 

The senior from Massachusetts has scored in double figures for a career-best four straight games.  He leads the Eagles with 18.5 points per game on the season. 

Freshman forward Jecca Simerly (Talbott, Tenn.) was also named the Astroturf South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week after leading the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles to a 2-0 week with wins over Mars Hill and North Greenville.

Simerly takes home her first career weekly honor from the league and the first by a Lady Eagle since then-freshman Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) was named the Player of the Week on March 4, 2013.

In an 80-69 win over the Lions last Tuesday, Simerly had 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor to go along with eight rebounds, a career-high four assists, two assists and two blocks. In her first career start against the Crusaders on Saturday, the freshman scored 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting to go along with four rebounds and a steal.

The Talbott, Tenn. native leads the Lady Eagles in scoring at 14.2 points per game, a number that ranks eighth in the league while leading the team with 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks and steals per contest this year.

Simerly is shooting 66 percent from the floor nearly six points higher than anyone else in the conference this season. Her seven total blocks this year ranks sixth in the South Atlantic Conference and her eight steals ranks tenth in the league. The 6.7 rebounds per game is good for 14th in the SAC on the year.

Bojangles is a proud corporate sponsor of Carson-Newman athletics.  Eagle fans can get a free large sweet tea from the Jefferson City location the day after Carson-Newman basketball games where the Eagle women score 65 points or the men score 70 points by telling the cashier, "It's Bo Time at Carson-Newman."