VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State senior men's basketball forward Bryce Smith and junior women's basketball guard Kayla Bonilla were named the Steel's Jewelry Blazer Athletes of the Week, announced Thursday.  
 
Since basketball is the only sport going through the month of January at VSU, this week's honor comprises the whole month.  Smith, a native of Powder Springs, Ga., helped VSU to a 7-0 record in the month of January and a league-best 8-0 record since December.  
 
He led the team in scoring at 15.7 points for January on 44 of 93 from the field (.473), while draining ten triples in 28 attempts (.357) and went 12 of 18 from the line.  Smith finished with 48 total rebounds for a 6.9 average for second on the team, while recording a team-high 11 blocks.  He led the team in rebounding twice during the month and had four games of multiple blocks.  This is the first honor for Smith this season for Steel's Jewelry Blazers Athlete of the Week.  
 
Smith has scored in double figures in each of the seven games and had one double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds against West Florida on Jan. 2.  He scored 20 points at Shorter on 7 of 14 from the field with one triple and 5 of 5 from the line, while pulling down nine rebounds. He also scored 19 points on two other occasions during the month.
 
For the season, Smith leads the team averaging 15.7 points per game in 18 starts for the 15-3 Blazers.  He is 106 of 237 from the field (.447) and 29 of 86 from beyond the arc (.337).  Smith is 41 of 55 (.745) from the line, while he is third on the team in rebounding at 6.1 per game.  Smith leads the team with 22 blocks this season.  Smith is fourth in the league in made field goals this season.  
 
Bonilla, a native of Columbus, Ga., led the Lady Blazers in scoring at 18.9 points per game for the month as the team went 4-3.  Bonilla was 45 of 105 from the field (.429), while draining 18 triples to lead the team in 47 attempts (.383) and went 24 of 36 from the line (.667).  She had 27 assists to lead the team and a team-high 13 steals during the month.  
 
She earned GSC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 7, after scoring 22 and 29 points in wins over West Florida and at West Alabama to begin the month.  She went 9 of 17 from the field (.529) with four triples and seven free throws made in the win at West Alabama on Jan. 4 for a season-high 29 points.  It was her second GSC Player of the Week honor of the season.
 
For the month, Bonilla led the team in scoring four times rebounding twice, assists five times and steals twice.  She scored in double figures in all seven games in the month with three games of 20 points or more.  This season, she leads the team in scoring at 19.0 points per game.  She is 113 of 242 from the field (.467) to lead the team, while going 33 of 96 from beyond the arc (.344) and 64 of 85 (.753) from the line.  She is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game and has a team-high 64 assists on the year.  
Bonilla and Smith will help lead their teams this Saturday in a pair of key Gulf South Conference contests at Montevallo.  The Lady Blazers play at 2:30 p.m. ET and the men's team at 4:30 p.m. ET.  Mike Chason will have the call of the games on 92.1 WDDQ FM. Check back with vstateblazers.com for links to live stats and streaming of the games on both the men's and women's basketball schedule pages.