Mid-American Conference

MAC East Player of the Week
Kristen Sharkey, Buffalo, F
Senior, Southern Regional
Senior captain Kristen Sharkey led the Bulls to a perfect 3-0 sweep of Big 4 opponents Monday with a 26-point, 9-rebound performance in UB's 72-55 victory at Canisius. She went on to tally her 17th career double-double with 15 points and 13 boards to lead the Bulls against Ohio on Saturday. Sharkey averaged a Bull-best double-double in the 1-1 week for UB with 20.5 points and 11.0 rebounds. For the week, Sharkey shot team-bests of .560 from the field (14-of-25) and .917 at the line (11-for-12) and added five assists and a pair of blocks. She committed just three turnovers in 34.5 minutes per game.

MAC West Player of the Week
Crystal Bradford, Central Michigan
Sr., Detroit, Mich./Inkster
Crystal Bradford extended her consecutive double-digit scoring performance to nine in CMU’s pair of games last week. Bradford scored a team-high 29 points on Wednesday against Dayton, adding eight rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. The senior continued her dominating play in the Chippewas 83-62 MAC opener win over Kent State on Saturday. Bradford scored a team-high 17 points, pulled down eight boards and dished out three assists. The senior currently leads the MAC in scoring (20.9), steals (2.6), fourth in rebounding (8.7), fourth in blocks (1.2) and fourth in assists (3.7).  


Other Nominees:
Sina King, Akron, G/F
Senior, Waterford, Ohio/Waterford
Senior Sina King turned in a strong week for the Zips averaging a double-double in two games for Akron posting 20.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest, while connecting on better than 55 percent (.551) from the field (16-of-29). In the Zips’ 75-62 setback at Youngstown State, King recorded an 18-point, 12-rebound performance. She connected on better than 53 percent of her shots, going 8-for-15 from the field. She followed netting a game-high 23 points and a team-best 10 rebounds in a 67-61 setback at Western Michigan. She poured in 14 of her 23 points in a second half that saw the Zips use a late 12-1 run in which she scored six points to cut an 18-point second-half deficit down to five points with under a minute to play. She shot better than 57 percent (.571) from the floor on 8-of-14 shooting. On the season, King is averaging 19.8 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds per game and has shot the ball at a 50 percent clip. She owns a team-high eight double-double and has scored in double figures every game this season.

Jill Morrison, Ball State, Guard
Sophomore, Winchester, Ind./Winchester
Morrison scored 12 points while adding five rebounds and five assists, in the Cardinals first Mid-American Conference win of the season at Bowling Green Saturday.  The win against the Falcons was the first time the Cardinals had defeated Bowling Green on the road in MAC regular season action since 2003-04. In the first half, Morrison found Renee Bennett in the paint with 4:48 on the clock to give Ball State its largest lead of the half (30-15). The Falcons opened the second stanza with a 7-2 run to come within one-point (34-33) with not even a minute shaved off the clock.  But Morrison would hit a three pointer which helped the Cardinals put together a 21-6 run to go back up by 16 (55-39) with 8:02 remaining.  She went on to hit her third three-point basket of the game at the 2:18 mark, giving the Cardinals its largest lead of the contest 18 (62-44).  Prior to Saturday's contest, Ball State lost a close battle on the road to Saint Louis in overtime.  Morrison led the Cardinals in scoring that game with 15 points.  For the week Morrison shot 80 percent from the charity stripe while averaging 13.5 points per game and knocked down five from behind the arc.

Deborah Hoekstra, Bowling Green, G
Senior, East Lansing, Mich. (East Lansing)
Bowling Green senior Deborah Hoekstra led the team in multiple categories last week. Hoekstra averaged 9.7 points per game to tie for the team lead, and the guard paced the Falcons with 6.7 rebounds per game. Hoekstra had a career-high nine rebounds in the Falcons’ loss at FIU on Tuesday (Dec. 30), and she matched that total with nine boards in Saturday’s (Jan. 3) loss to Ball State. Hoekstra was named to the all-tournament team at the FIU Sun & Fun Classic earlier this week. The senior scored a team-high 13 points against Hampton (Dec. 29), then had seven points and the nine rebounds vs. FIU, along with two assists and two steals. In the Ball State game, she just missed a double-double, with nine points and nine more rebounds. On the season, Hoekstra is averaging 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and leads the Falcons with 19 three-point field goals made. Hoekstra is also shooting 90.6% from the free-throw line, having gone 29-of-32. The Falcons are 7-5 on the season.

Cha Sweeney, Eastern Michigan, G
Sophomore, Toledo, Ohio-Rogers
On the week, Sweeney averaged 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 assist in 39.0 minutes of work. Against Detroit, Sweeney chipped in a team-best 19 points and followed it up with a 21-point effort at Northern Illinois. In the MAC opener, Sweeney grabbed seven rebounds and two steals while scoring the tying bucket with just six seconds to play to send it to overtime.

Courtney Larson, Miami, G
Senior, Columbus, Ind./Columbus North
Larson continued to be the stabilizing force in Miami's backcourt. Averaging 11.0 points per game, she shot 66.7 percent from the field (8-for-12), including 62.5 percent (5-for-8) from behind the arc. Larson had eight points, three rebounds and four assists in Miami's win over Davidson on Monday. She followed that up with a team leading 14 points, six rebounds and three assists against Toledo on Saturday.

Amanda Corral, NIU, G
Senior, Hobart, Ind./Hobart
Amanda Corral led the Huskies in scoring and to two wins on the week as NIU earned its first road win of the year at Bradley and won its second-straight Mid-American Conference opener against Eastern Michigan.
Corral scored 18 points at Bradley, scoring half her points behind the arc. She added two steals and three assists against the Braves. Versus the Eagles, the senior scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her first double-double of the season as the Huskies defeated EMU in overtime, 54-48, overcoming a nine point deficit in the second half. She added two blocks and three assists against the Eagles.

Kiyanna Black, Ohio, G
Junior, Columbus, Ohio/Columbus Africentric
On Dec. 29 in a 71-64 victory against Cleveland State, Black scored 11 points and had two rebounds. She was 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of07 from three point range and registered three steals. On Jan. 3 in the Bobcats' conference opener against Buffalo, Black scored 15 points and  had five boards in a 61-50 victory. She also registered two steals in helping the Bobcats improve to 10-2. 

Inma Zanoguera, Toledo, G
Senior, Llucmajor, Spain
Senior Inma Zanoguera averaged team highs in points (19.0 ppg), assists (5.5 apg), steals (3.0 spg) and minutes played (31.5 mpg), helping the Rockets defeat both UW-Parkside and Miami last week. Zanoguera shot 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from the field, including 33.3 percent (1-of-3) from three-point range, and 91.7 percent (11-of-12) from the charity stripe to stretch UT’s win streak to a season-high four-straight games. The two-time All-MAC selection also contributed 5.0 rebounds per contest, the third-highest total on the team. She was the only UT player to score in double figures in both games. Zanoguera opened the week with a career-high 27 points, a contest-best six dimes, five caroms and a game-high four thefts vs. the Rangers in a season-low 26 minutes. She followed up that performance against UWP with 11 points, five boards, a game-high five helpers and a contest-best two steals in a game-high 37 minutes against the RedHawks in the MAC opener.  

Miracle Woods, Western Michigan, F
Junior, Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Luers
Western Michigan junior forward Miracle Woods guided the Broncos to a pair of wins last week, averaging 17.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg and adding three assists, three steals and a block. She shot 12-for-22 (54.5%) from the floor and over 71 percent from the free throw line. On Monday, she helped the team erase a 32-23 halftime deficit against Holy Cross, totaling 17 points, nine rebounds, a career-high three assists, a steal and a block in a 51-40 come from behind victory. Woods again paced the Bronco offense on Saturday, as Western Michigan kicked off MAC play with a 67-61 win over Akron. She scored a team-high 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds while adding two steals. Woods was nearly unstoppable going to the basket as she shot 7-for-9 from the field. Of her 16 rebounds for the week, nearly half of those (7) were on the offensive glass. The two wins upped Western Michigan's record to 8-4, the best record for the program in over a decade.