Auburn sophomore and Andalusia native Blanche Alverson was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday.

Alverson’s impressive play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court landed her the award, after she led her team to two SEC wins last week against Ole Miss and LSU. She averaged 18 points, five rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.

She recorded a career-high 27 points in her team’s 85-73 win over the Rebels on Thursday night, including a career-high five tres.

Alverson said receiving the top player of the week award just added to the week her team had.

“I was very excited,” she said of her reaction to getting the award. “It’s a huge honor, and it just adds to the week we had. We had good success against Ole Miss, and beating LSU at home was awesome. I was excited and thankful.”

In Sunday’s conference game against LSU, Alverson managed only 4-of-12 from the field, but had excelled on the defensive end, leading Auburn with two blocks and four steals — a career high. Additionally, she had nine points and six rebounds in the 65-53 win over LSU.

When asked to describe her game against Ole Miss, Alverson said she had good looks at the basket.

“I had a few shots early, and it just got my confidence up,” she said. “I just continued to shoot pretty well the whole game.

“I was able to get a lot of open shots for my teammates, too,” she said. “I guess I was just kind of hard to guard that day.”

On the LSU game, she said, “It was just focusing on defense. We worked a lot at practice on their different motions they run. We had an emphasis on guarding and stopping their penetration.”

Winning this SEC award comes before a tough two-game conference run against Mississippi State on Thursday in Starkville, Miss., and No. 5 Tennessee on Sunday in Auburn.

Alverson said the team is just taking it “one game at a time.”

“We’re focusing on Mississippi State first,” Alverson said. “We’re hoping to steal one on the road in the next few days when we go down to Starkville.”