SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina women's basketball sophomore Jewel Smalls was named the Southern Conference Player of the Month for November as announced by the league office today.

The conference monthly award for Smalls is the first for a Catamount women's basketball player since former standout Brooke Johnson garnered the honor, also in the month of November, in the 2007-08 season.

The Roswell, Ga. native finished with double-doubles in seven of the Catamounts' nine contests, tied for the most in Division I, and averaged a double-double on the month with 15.7 points and a SoCon-best 11.7 rebounds per game.

Smalls, the SoCon Player of the Week presented by GEICO on Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 – for games played in Nov., netted double figures in eight of the nine contests. She scored 20-plus twice, including tying her career-high with 32 points at Gardner-Webb on Nov. 27, accounting for more than half of Western Carolina's offensive output.

After opening her season with a career-high 15 rebounds in a win over UVA-Wise, she turned in a new career-best with 18 rebounds against Coastal Carolina on Nov. 24. She made December even better as she bested her career rebounding total Dec. 4 ripping down 20 in the win over Charleston Southern.

The 5-7 guard amassed 105 rebounds in the month, an NCAA best.

Western Carolina returns to action Friday hosting Cleveland State at 7 p.m. in the Ramsey Center.