INDIANA, Pa. – Senior women's basketball forward Megan Smith has been awarded the 2017-18 IUP Women's Performance of the Year, announced Thursday, June 7 by the IUP Athletic Department.
 
The award is part of the Crimson & Gray Awards, which recognize the top athletes, coaches, teams and performances of the IUP Athletics season. The Awards are in their second year of existence.
 
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Smith posted arguably the best performance of her four-year collegiate career, scoring 34 points in 35 minutes in a 72-53 victory at Pitt-Johnstown January 3. She added five rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the game that gave the Crimson Hawks their 11th straight win to start the season.
 
The 34 points is a career-best for Smith, and is tied for the fifth highest scoring total in IUP history, four short of the record of 38 points.
 
Smith converted 12-of-18 from the field, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range. The 12 made field goals tied a career-high for Smith and the six treys are tied for the fifth most in IUP single game history.
 
About the Performance of the Year Award
The IUP Performance of the Year is given each year to the student-athletes who had the most significant or extraordinary performance in a single game, event, or outing. The Performance of the Year Award began in 2017 with the creation of the Crimson & Gray Awards.  
 
About the Crimson & Gray Awards
The Crimson & Gray Awards are in their second year of existence and consist of 18 total categories - nine women, nine men - with top performers and performances from the 2017-18 year eligible.
 
Continuing from their inaugural year, awards include: Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Performance of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, Postseason Performer of the Year, Senior of the Year, Team of the Year and Athlete of the Year.

The IUP Sports Information Office collected award nominations from its coaches, with those nominees voted on by a select panel to narrow each category down to three finalists. That panel votes again to determine the winners.
 
Up next
The 2017-18 IUP Men's Performance of the Year will be announced at 2:30 p.m. today. The men's and women's Freshman of the Year winners will be announced Friday.
 
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For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Athletics on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk.