Saint Joseph's sophomore Lizzy Gruber shared her teammate's success with her 3,000 Instagram followers on Tuesday. Junior forward Lara Ziegler was named the Atlantic 10 and Big 5 Player of the Week on Monday as the school swept the honors for the third straight week.
The Big 5 is an informal association of six Division I basketball schools in Philadelphia.
Ziegler averaged 26.0 points and 11.0 rebounds as the Hawks split with Southern Utah (an 82-53 win) and Utah (a 72-71 overtime loss).
Gruber has yet to play this season for Saint Joseph's, entering Wednesday's game with St. Francis. In her debut season, she played 28 minutes in 14 games, totaling five points, eight rebounds and two assists.
At Gardiner (Maine) Area High School, Gruber was named Miss Maine Basketball in 2023 after becoming the first in state history to secure 1,000 rebounds before scoring 1,000 points and holds the school record in both categories. Prep Girls Hoops ranked her as the No. 1 post player and No. 4 overall player in New England.
Lizzy Gruber and Ace Flagg's relationship
Lizzy Gruber and Ace Flagg have been together for two years. They went public with their relationship in April 2022.
In May, they went on a trip to Universal Studios in Florida. Last month, the duo celebrated their second anniversary, and Gruber posted snaps on her Instagram handle.
Maine signee Ace Flagg, the brother of Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, is a three-star recruit in the 2025 class. The Flaggs, like Gruber, are from Maine. His mother, Kelly, played college basketball for Maine.
Ace plays small forward at Greensboro Day School and is ranked 15th in North Carolina. He played for national champion Montverde Academy with Cooper last season before transferring to Greensboro in July. He attended Nokomis Regional High School (in Newport, Maine) as a freshman and sophomore. The Flaggs led Nokomis to the Class A state title as freshmen.
Cooper played two seasons at Montverde and reclassified to the 2024 class.
"To just be able to showcase what I can do and I think Greensboro is going to be that place for me," he said in an interview with Fox 22.
In October, he committed to Maine, turning down offers from Boston, Saint Joseph's, West Virginia and Florida Gulf Coast.
In 2023, Ace Flagg averaged 14.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 2.4 apg in the Peach Jam tournament.