Belmont’s Destinee Wells Named TSWA’s Tennessee Player Of The Year

/in , /by

Destinee Wells against the Lady Vols of Tennessee in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Photo: Courtesy of Belmont Athletics

Belmont women’s basketball star Destinee Wells has been named Tennessee Player of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA).

Wells has been the leading scorer during her first two years at Belmont, was named OVC Tournament MVP, and has helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back Round of 32 appearances in the NCAA Tournament. She becomes the first Bruin to be named TSWA Player of the Year since Darby Maggard in 2019.

This past season Wells averaged 16.7 points, 4.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and a steal. She ranked among the top 65 players in the nation in both total assists (140) and assists per game, while second in the OVC in scoring and assists.

Wells averaged 21 points in the Bruins’ sixth OVC Tournament title run in seven seasons. She was masterful in the OVC Tournament championship against Tennessee Tech, dropping 22 points as the game’s only double-figure scorer. That performance came on the heels of scoring 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting and going a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line in the OVC Tournament semifinal win over Austin Peay.

Wells’ impressive playing continued in the NCAA Tournament where she averaged 19 points, 5.5 assists, five rebounds and two steals against fifth-seeded Oregon and fourth-seeded Tennessee. In Belmont’s thrilling double-overtime First Round victory over the Ducks inside Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Wells scored 16 points, seven assists and grabbed four rebounds. Against the 18th-ranked Lady Volunteers in the NCAA Tournament Second Round, Wells posted a game-best 22 points, secured six boards and dished out four assists.

Seven of Wells’ 11 20-point games in 2021-22 came in the months of February and March and she scored a season-high 27 points in key road victories at Tennessee Tech (Feb. 5) and Murray State (Feb. 24).

Reaching double figures in all but two games in 2021-22, Wells finished the season with 519 points, 140 assists and 112 rebounds. She has scored in double figures in 43 of her last 45 games and 51 of her 56 career games. Starting in all but one game she’s donned the Belmont jersey, Wells is only 36 points away from becoming the Bruins’ 33rd 1,000-point scorer. She has also compiled 255 assists and 188 rebounds over the last two seasons.

Steven Boero
Latest posts by Steven Boero (see all)