Mississippi State's Reggie Perry and Rickea Jackson win fan voting portion of annual awards honoring state's top college male and female basketball players

JACKSON, Miss., March 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mississippi State power forward Reggie Perry, an SEC player of the year candidate, and Lady Bulldog freshman sensation Rickea Jackson won the fan voting portion of the 2020 C Spire Howell and Gillom Trophies, which annually honor the top male and female college basketball players in Mississippi, it was announced Saturday.

Perry, a sophomore from Thomasville, Georgia, received 5,437 votes from fans, which counts for a weighted 10 percent of the award.  Tougaloo College senior forward Ledarius Wood, a first-time finalist, finished second with 2,911 votes and University of Mississippi senior guard Breein Tyree, a two-time finalist, finished third with 2,479 votes.   

Jackson, a freshman forward from Detroit, Michigan, received 6,409 votes while Delta State senior forward Quantesha Patterson finished second with 4,206 votes and Lady Bulldog teammate and sophomore forward Jessika Carter garnered 2,350 votes to place third.  Jackson posted one of the best freshman seasons in program history and is one of the top newcomers in college basketball.

Nearly 24,000 online votes were cast by fans for the six finalists during the six-day fan voting period, the highest total since fan voting was allowed in basketball the first time in 2014.  Finalists and the ultimate award winners are chosen by fans and a statewide panel of media who cover college basketball in Mississippi.   This year's overall winners for both trophies will be announced at a special awards luncheon on Monday, March 9 in Jackson, Miss. 

Perry, a top 10 finalist for the Karl Malone Award conferred on the nation's top power forward by the Naismith Hall of Fame, is the only SEC player to rank among the league's top 10 in points (17.2 – 6^th), rebounds (9.9 – 1^st) and blocks (1/2 – 9^th).  Jackson, a three-time SEC player of the week selection, is among league leaders in scoring (14.5 – 11^th) and is the only freshman in the conference to score 30 points in a game this season.

The C Spire Howell Trophy is named after Bailey Howell, a two-time All American at Mississippi State University and a six-time NBA All-Star who played on Boston Celtics world championship teams in 1968 and 1969. Howell, a 1977 inductee to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the first male Mississippi player inducted in the National Basketball Hall of Fame, still holds nearly a dozen season and career records at Mississippi State University.

The C Spire Gillom Trophy is named after Abbeville, Miss. native Peggy Gillom-Granderson, Ole Miss' all-time leading scorer and rebounder.  She has coached in the WNBA and the Olympics and retired in 2009 as associate head coach of the Lady Rebels basketball team. 

Limited tickets starting at $40 each are still available for Monday's awards luncheon at MSHOF offices andonline. For more information, call 601.982.8264. Van Chancellor, former NCCA, WNBA, Ole Miss and Naismith, Women's and Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame coaching legend, will be the featured guest speaker. Coaches and finalists for both awards are expected to attend the luncheon, which starts at 11:30 a.m.

2020 marks the 25^th anniversary of the Outstanding Player Awards presentation.  C Spire has served as title sponsor for 23 of those years since 1998.  The Conerly Trophy in college football, the Howell Trophy in men's college basketball, the Gillom Trophy in women's college basketball and the Ferriss Trophy in college baseball comprise the four elements of the C Spire Outstanding Player Award series.

About C Spire
C Spire is a leading technology company committed to transforming its service areas through the C Spire Tech Movement initiative, which includes broadband deployment, technology innovation and workforce development.  The company provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data and cloud services for businesses.  This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.

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SOURCE C Spire