Sidelines

Sixth man

Mark Bortz has been named the Mid-American Conference's Sixth Man of the Year, as voted on by the head coaches of the different teams in the league.

This is the third year that the award has been given. Last year Reggie Berry from Western Michigan was honored, and in 2003, the honors went to Whitney Robinson of Central Michigan.

Mark Bortz averaged 10.6 points per game, good for second on the team. He had 5.8 rebounds per game, which leads the Bulls this season. He also led UB in blocked shots and ranked fourth in the MAC in that category with 32 blocked shots this season. He also had a career-high 23 steals in the regular season.

This is a regular season award, and does not take into consideration statistics posted during the MAC tournament.

Fabulous frosh

Despite the tough season that the UB women's basketball team had this season, a consistent bright spot was freshman forward Heather Turner.

Turner, who averaged 11.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, has been named to the Mid-American Conference all-freshman team. She finished the season ranked 19th in the MAC in scoring, sixth in rebounding, and she led the conference in field goal percentage. Her field goal percentage of 57.1 percent is a new school record, breaking Heidi Steckstor's 53.9 percent in the 1989-90 season. Turner's six double-doubles this year were tied for the third most in the conference and were also the most out of any freshman in the conference this year.

Joining Turner on the all-freshman team are Kate Achter from Bowling Green, Julie DeMuth from Ball State, Simone Redd from Ohio, and Olivia Terry out of Toledo.

This is only the second time a UB Bull has been selected to the MAC all-freshman team. Kim Kilpela was selected after her freshman year in 2000.