Tearra Banks and Lidia Yanes Garcia represented not only the best Austin Peay State University had to offer but were the pinnacle of excellence across the Ohio Valley Conference in 2016-17, earning OVC Women's Basketball and Women's Tennis Player of the Year honors, respectively.
For Banks, it was the culmination of an astounding career in the red-and-white. In averaging 19 points and eight rebounds in her final Austin Peay season, Banks led the Governors to their second straight OVC Tournament appearance in 2016-17, ranking among the nation's elite in field goal percentage (59.6 percent) and field goals made (235).
On Dec. 3, Banks hit the first of many milestones by scoring her 1,000th career point in a home contest against Western Kentucky; days later, she earned her first-ever OVC Player of the Week nod—the first of three in her final season. At the inaugural ESPEAY's, Banks was named Most Outstanding Female Athlete.
Moving from hardwood to hard court, Yanes Garcia made it back-to-back OVC Player of the Year honors after an impressive 14-2 regular season singles mark, including a perfect 9-0 at No. 1 singles in league play.
She's the she's the seventh athlete in OVC history to win back-to-back Women's Tennis Player of the Year honors, and the first since Murray State's Melissa Spencer (2003-04). She's the 10th player to win multiple Player of the Year honors during their career, and fourth from Austin Peay, joining T.J. Kleynhans, Shannon Peters and Susan Sheather.
2016-17 Top 10
No. 10 – Austin Peay claims OVC Institutional Sportsmanship Honor
No. 9 – Govs host inaugural ESPEAY's
No. 8 – Pitts closes APSU career in style
No. 7 – Williams obliterates league AP yardage mark
No. 6 – Beach volleyball kicks off its inaugural season
