The winners of the awards presented to the top college basketball players in Mississippi were announced on Monday.
The Gillom Trophy awarded annually to the most outstanding women’s basketball player in the state was presented to Ole Miss guard Angel Baker. The Lady Rebels’ standout beat out Mississippi State’s Jessika Carter and Southern Miss’ Domonique Davis to claim the honor.
Baker leads the team in scoring with 15.1 points per game and eight 20-point outings this season and recently surpassed the 2,000 career-scoring mark to become one of four players in Ole Miss history to eclipse the milestone. Following her SEC Sixth-Woman of the Year season in 2022, Baker elevated her game to increase her scoring by 36 percent.
Mississippi State forward Tolu Smith was the recipient of the Howell Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding men’s basketball player in the state. Smith earned the honor over Ole Miss’ Matthew Murrell and Southern Miss’ Austin Crowley.
Smith leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 15.4 points per game and rebounds with 8.3 per game. The Bay St. Louis native has started in each of MSU’s 31 games this season and was named SEC Player of the Week in early February. Smith is currently on a 15-game streak in which he has scored double digits.
ABOUT THE TROPHIES
The Gillom Trophy is named after Peggie Gillom-Granderson, Ole Miss’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. She coached in the WNBA and the Olympics and retired after a seven-year stint as Associate Head Coach of the women’s basketball team at Ole Miss.
The Howell Trophy is named after Bailey Howell, a two-time All-American at Mississippi State and a six-time NBA All-Star who played on Boston Celtics world championship teams in 1968 and 1969. Howell, a 1977 inductee to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the first male Mississippi player inducted in the National Basketball Hall of Fame, still holds nearly a dozen records at Mississippi State.
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