Kern Earns Second Straight MAC Honor, With Company

SELINSGROVE, Pa. - For the second time in as many weeks, Susquehanna University senior center Karyn Kern has been named the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week in women's basketball. On the men's side, freshman guard Nick Griffiths was selected to the weekly honor roll as both Crusader hoop teams posted road victories prior to Thanksgiving break.

Kern (Brodheadsville, Pa./Pleasant Valley H.S.), who was named Player of the Week for the sixth time in her career, scored 15 points, pulled 16 rebounds and blocked three shots as the Crusaders defeated Ursinus 63-52 on November 21. She hit 5-of-9 shots from the field and pulled nine of her 16 boards on the defensive end to help the Crusaders improve to 3-0 for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.

Also in the Ursinus win, Kern became the fifth player in Susquehanna history to score 1,400 career points and in the process moved past Megan Lytle (1991-95) into fourth place on the career scoring list at 1,409 points. In three games this season, Kern is averaging 17.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

Griffiths (Shamokin, Pa./Shamokin Area H.S.) made his first career start memorable as he scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Crusaders to a 79-68 win at York on November 20. He shot 7-for-11 from the field overall and hit three three-pointers late in the first half to spark a Crusader run in boosting Susquehanna to 3-0 for the first time since 1994-95.

The 5-10 Griffiths is third on the team in scoring at 13.0 points per game and is shooting a sizzling 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from behind the three-point arc.

Susquehanna's men's and women's teams will open Commonwealth Conference action on Wednesday night when the squads travel to Grantham to battle Messiah College. The women's game begins at 6 p.m. with the men's tip off slated for 8 p.m.