THE FLATS – The ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Georgia Tech’s senior forward Lorela Cubaj has been named the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s 2021 Women’s College Player of the Year, as announced by the organization on Friday.
The Terni, Italy native has been a dominant presence for the Yellow Jackets this season, averaging a double-double behind 12.4 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. Cubaj has started all 25 games, owns 14 double-doubles on the season and has recorded four straight dating back to the ACC Tournament. She has recorded 17 double-figure rebounding games and 18 double-figure scoring outings this season.
At the end of the regular season, Cubaj picked up All-ACC First Team honors by both the Blue Ribbon Panel and leagues head coaches. She helped the Yellow Jackets advance to the ACC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2012, posting consecutive double-doubles in the tournament to average 14.5 points and 14.5 rebounds per game to earn a spot on the ACC All-Tournament second team.
In the NCAA Tournament, Cubaj is averaging 17.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, helping lift Tech to a spot in the Sweet 16. Against Stephen F. Austin, she dropped 14 points and 10 rebounds, while finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds against West Virginia in the second round.
Cubaj becomes the 11th Yellow Jacket to earn Atlanta Tipoff Club Women’s College Player of the Year, and the first since Aaliyah Whiteside earned the honor in 2015-16.
Georgia Tech returns to the court facing top-seeded South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on Sunday, March 28. Tip is slated for 1 p.m. EST on ABC.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and the Support The Swarm Fund, created to give fans an opportunity to help Georgia Tech athletics maintain its recent momentum through the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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