Marc ProiettoBasketball
Brussels
Last week: Proietto, a 5-foot-10 senior point guard, had 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists Friday as the Division III Brigands thumped their Division I guests from SHAPE 67-47. “Friday’s near triple-double against a D-I team is a fitting snapshot of where he’s now at in his continued development since his freshman year,” Brussels coach Chris Vahrenhorst said in an e-mail. “We’ve leaned heavily on him as our starting point guard since our season-opener four years ago.” Proietto is averaging nine points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals per game and is shooting 60 percent from the field. But that’s not all the senior’s providing the unbeaten Brigands. “What you don’t see in the box scores is his low turnover rate,” Vahrenhorst concluded. “In the early going this season, it’s just over three; but over the whole of last year he averaged under two. That’s unheard of for a player who must handle the ball as much as he does. On top of all that, he’s a humble and unselfish player who’s bringing out the best in his teammates this year.”
Alanna CrockwellBasketballMannheim
Last week: Crockwell, a senior guard, scored 19 points and stole the ball 12 times Saturday as the Lady Bison handed visiting Bamberg its first loss of the season, 46-33. The dozen thefts gave Crockwell 22 for the weekend, according to Mannheim coach Adrian Crawford, whose Lady Bison rebounded from a 41-32 loss to Bamberg on Friday. “Alanna is a very special defender, who has the ability to take over a game with her defense,” he wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. Saturday’s effort was Crockwell’s second straight double-double, and her 19 points tied Bamberg’s Raquel Davis for game high. Crockwell had 10 points and 10 steals on Friday. The Lady Bison improved to 4-2 overall with Saturday’s win; previously unbeaten Bamberg fell to 3-1. Mannheim, whose lone loss prior to Friday was by three points to D-I contender Kaiserslautern, next plays Saturday at winless Bitburg before embarking on a home-and-home series with Wiesbaden on Jan. 22-23.
Selected by Stars and Stripes staff
