MAC Women's Basketball Players of the Week Announced
MAC East Player of the Week:
Anita Brown / Akron / Guard
Sr. / Warren, Ohio / Warren Harding
Senior Anita Brown turned in a big week for the Zips averaging 25.0 points and 6.5 rebounds en route to shooting 50 percent from the field in a pair of road games for Akron.
She helped spark the Zips to a come-from-behind 85-74 victory at Valparaiso with a 27-point, seven-rebound performance. Akron claimed its first lead of the game after five-straight points from Brown with 4:46 left in the second quarter. Brown followed with a 23-point, six-rebound effort at Northern Iowa connecting on 52.9 percent (9-of-17) of her attempts from the field.
After falling behind 28-3, Akron closed the half with an 11-5 run of its own fueled by six points from Brown to enter the intermission trailing 33-14. The Zips opened the second half with an 8-2 run capped by a jumper from Brown at the 3:57 mark of the third quarter to cut the Panthers' lead to 13, 35-22. The Zips fought all the way back to square the contest at 45 on a jumper by Brown with 3:40 remaining in the affair.
On the season, Brown is averaging 21.1 points, 6.9 rebounds while shooting nearly 44 percent (.439) from the field.
MAC West Player of the Week:
Nathalie Fontaine / Ball State / Guard
Sr. / Stockholm. Sweden
Fontaine helped the Cardinals begin the week with a 72-60 win over Lipscomb where the senior guard scored 28 points and pulled down 14 rebounds for her 23rd double-double of her career. She led all scorers against Big Ten foe Purdue Sunday, after a 26-point performance. With Fontaine’s help, Ball State led in three different categories over the Boilermakers including points in the paint (32-of-26), field goal percentage (49.1-to-41.4) and rebounds (33-of-27). Fontaine has scored 20+ points in each of her last five games. She needs 10 points to move into third place on Ball State’s all-time scoring list. After scoring in double figures in all of Ball State’s games this season, Fontaine has now scored in double digits 95 times out of 106 total games in her career. For the week, Fontaine averaged 27.0 points and 11.5 rebounds while shooting 57.1 percent from the field (20-of-35) and shot 73 percent from the charity stripe (14-of-19).
Other Nominees:
Quiera Lampkins / Ohio / Guard
Jr. / Gahanna, Ohio / Gahanna Lincoln
Junior guard Quiera Lampkins led Ohio last week in the Bobcats’ game against Duquesne on Dec. 13. Lampkins scored a season-high 26 points to lead all scorers in the 64-47 loss. Lampkins was 1of-17 (64.7%) from the field and a 1-of-2 (50%) from beyond the arc. Lampkins was also 3-of-4 for the free throw line. She also added one rebound, dished out three assists and recorded one steal and one block in 36 minutes of action. In the game, Lampkins also registered a career-high 11 made field goals.
Cassie Breen / Central Michigan / Guard
So. / Woodhaven, Mich. / Woodhaven
Central Michigan’s Cassie Breen had a career day Saturday against B1G foe Illinois. The sophomore put up a career and game-high 23 points, shooting an impressive 53 percent (9-of-17) from the floor. Breen was consistent from 3-point range making 55 percent (5-of-9) of her shots from downtown while also pulling down two boards and dishing out two assists. Her five triples ties for second best in the MAC this season for a single game. Breen leads the Chippewas this season in 3-point field goal percentage (45 percent).
Phillis Webb / Eastern Michigan / Guard
Jr. / Brooklyn Park, Minn. / Osseo
Junior Phillis Webb continued to impress in 2015-16 campaign as she averaged a double-double during a pair of road victories over Harvard, Dec. 8, and Monmouth, Dec. 10. For the week, the Brooklyn Park, Minn. native averaged 19.0 points and 10.0 rebounds while posting a 66.7 percent field goal percentage (14-of-21) in 32.5 minutes of work. In the team’s come-from-behind triumph at Harvard, Webb scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half as the Eagles won after trailing by as many as 10 points during the contests. She followed it up with her second career double-double with a personal-best 20 points to go along with 11 caroms in the victory. Again the second half was critical in Webb’s success as she recorded 14 points and seven rounds after the intermission. For the year, Webb ranks second in the MAC in field goal percentage and seventh in rebounding.
Ally Lehman / Northern Illinois / Guard
Jr. / Nineveh, Ind. / Indian Creek
Ally Lehman recording her MAC leading fourth double-double of the season Sunday afternoon versus Illinois State as she led NIU in points (16), rebounds (11) and blocks (4), a new career-high.
The Huskie was 7-of-12 from the field, going 1-of-1 behind the three-point line, pulled 10 defensive rebounds of her 11 total. In the third quarter alone, she blocked three shots, surpassing her career-high of two in the outing.
NIU defeated Illinois State, 68-59, building a 22-point lead and putting together two 12-0 runs in the game.
Ana Capotosto / Toledo / Forward
Sr. / Saugatuck, Mich. / Saugatuck
Senior Ana Capotosto led UT to a double-digit victory over Cleveland State with a career-high six triples and a collegiate-best 22 points. Capotosto shot an efficient 8-of-12 from the field against the Vikings, including a sizzling 6-of-9 from three-point land, to finish with at least 20 points for the fifth time in her collegiate career. The two-time team captain also pulled down a season-best 10 boards to post her second-career double-double.
Capotosto has now scored in double figures in three-straight contests and six of the last seven games overall, averaging a squad-best 14.6 points during this period of time.
Miracle Woods / Western Michigan / Forward
Sr. / Fort Wayne, Ind. / Bishop Luers
Woods was a huge part of the Broncos comeback win over Detroit where WMU outscored the Titans 25-11 in the fourth quarter to come out with a 70-66 win. She led all scorers with 27 points shooting the ball very efficiently going 10-for-19 from the floor and 7-for-11 from the free-throw line. Woods had 15 of her 27 points in the second half as she passed two players on the WMU all-time scoring list to move up to 12th place . She now has 1,236 points in her career with the Broncos and has helped WMU win four games in a row and five of their last six.
