Purcell, Ruff tabbed with GNAC Weekly Honors

(Winthrop, Mass.) The Great Northeast Athletic Conference has announced that Rivier senior Deanna Purcell and freshman Andre Ruff were selected as Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively, for Women's and Men's Basketball in a Monday afternoon release.

The Hudson, New Hampshire native – Purcell – was tabbed the GNAC's Women's Basketball Player of the Week after a dominate performance despite the team's outcome. The 5-10 guard, who was honored prior to the start of the game for Senior Day, shot 8-for-12 from the field with a 4-for-6 mark from beyond the arc. She added a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe to total 32 points in her 40 minutes of action. Purcell also pulled down 8 rebounds and dished out 8 assists in the 77-75 loss to Norwich University on Saturday, February 14th. This marks the third time this season that Purcell was honored with the conference's Player of the Week selection.

Andre Ruff (Lowell, Mass.) was also honored by the GNAC as he was chosen as the Men's Basketball Rookie of the Week. The rookie guard was the bright spot for the Raiders in a 1-2 week as he led all scorers with a 20.3 points per game average. His week high of 25 points on 6-for-11 shooting sparked his team's only win of the week – a 74-70 decision over Lasell College. He also tallied 16 points against Mount Ida and added another 20 points in the two setbacks this past week. This was the second time (December 1, 2014) that Ruff was selected as the GNAC Rookie of the Week.

Both the Men's and Women's Basketball teams will be wrapping up the 2014-15 campaign this week against GNAC competition. The Women's team will travel to Lasell (2/17) and the University of Saint Joseph (2/21) while hosting Suffolk (2/19) inbetween as they look to secure their third straight playoff spot. The Men's team will host Johnson & Wales (2/17) and travel to Mount Ida (2/21) to finish off the season.