BlackBerry CIS athletes of the week: Lakehead’s McKenna, McGill’s Verreault-Paul honoured

OTTAWA (CIS) – Lakehead basketball player Tasia McKenna and McGill hockey player Francis Verreault-Paul are the BlackBerry Canadian Interuniversity Sport female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Dec. 6, 2009.

McKenna, a fourth-year kinesiology student from Timberlea, N.S., exploded for 31 points last Thursday to lead the Thunderwolves (5-3) to a 69-65 win over Toronto in their final conference game of the fall semester. The senior point guard, who leads the OUA and ranks fourth in the nation in scoring with 19.9 points per game, hit six three-point shots in the contest and added six assists without committing a single turnover.

McGill hockey player Vanessa Davidson and Simon Fraser basketball player Laurelle Weigl were also nominated for the women’s award.

Verreault-Paul, a second-year science student from Mashteuiatsh, Que., tallied four goals and seven points as the No. 5-ranked Redmen swept a two-game set against Ryerson, 7-0 and 8-5, to go into the December break with a stellar 12-2 conference mark. The 5-foot-10, 178-pound right winger, who leads the country with 15 goals in 13 outings and is tied for fourth with 28 points, netted a hat-trick including the game-winner and added one assist on Friday, then added a goal and two helpers on Saturday.

Hockey players Dion Campbell of UNB, Chris Jones of York and Tyler Ruel of UBC were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: No AUS female athlete of the week this week
QSSF: Vanessa Davidson, hockey, McGill
OUA: Tasia McKenna, basketball, Lakehead (recipient)
Canada West: Laurelle Weigl, basketball, Simon Fraser

Male nominees:
AUS: Dion Campbell, hockey, UNB
QSSF: Francis Verreault-Paul, hockey, McGill (recipient)
OUA: Chris Jones, hockey, York
Canada West: Tyler Ruel, hockey, UBC


-CIS-