Averkamp Three-peats as Scholar-Athlete of the Month, Gerardot also Honored

INDIANAPOLIS -- Loyola senior forward Ben Averkamp (Germantown, Wis.) has earned his third-straight Horizon League Male Scholar-Athlete of the Month award while Valparaiso junior forward Tabitha Gerardot (Fort Wayne, Ind.) was chosen as the female honoree for January.

Both student-athletes earned 62.5 percent of the votes.

Averkamp, who also won for November and December, carries a 3.80 GPA and is majoring in biology. He is one of 30 national candidates for the Senior CLASS Award.

The senior was a Capital One Academic All-District V selection in both 2011-12 and 2012-12 and in 2011-12 was named to the I-AAA Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete team, the Horizon League Men's Basketball All-Academic team, the National Jesuit Men's Basketball All-Academic team and the NABC Honors Court. Averkamp is a member of Loyola's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and is the president of the Horizon League chapter of SAAC.

On the court, Averkamp averaged 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 block per game while leading the Ramblers to four wins in January, shooting 46 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line. He contributed two double-doubles while scoring in double figures in eight of Loyola's nine contests.

He grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in one of those double-doubles, Jan. 30 against Milwaukee, adding 22 points, his most since Dec. 8, 2012. Averkamp's other double-double came in a Jan. 20 non-conference win over in-city foe Chicago State, when he totaled 18 points and 11 boards.

Averkamp ended the month with 1,315 career points, tied for the 17th-most all-time at Loyola. In his first game of 2013, the senior tossed in 16 points and added five rebounds, five assists and four blocks as the Rambler opened the conference season with a 63-54 road win at defending regular-season champion Valparaiso.

Loyola returns to action tomorrow afternoon, hosting in-city Horizon League rival UIC at 2 p.m. on HLN.

Gerardot is double-majoring in French and Spanish and carries a 3.91 GPA. She is enrolled in Christ College, Valpo's honors college, and -- though only a junior -- she's already begun taking graduate-level classes.

In each semester since becoming eligible, Gerardot has been named to the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll and last year was a member of the Horizon League All-Academic team. At Valpo, she has earned Presidential academic honors and has been named to the Dean's List.

Gerardot shot 54.8 percent from the field in January, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in seven January games. She posted four double-doubles, including 26 points and 17 boards in an upset win over Youngstown State and a career-high 33 points to go with 10 rebounds in a win at Milwaukee.

For her efforts, she was named the Horizon League women's basketball Player of the Week on Jan. 14.

The Crusaders return to action tomorrow afternoon, hosting UIC at 2 p.m.

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