MAC Women's Basketball Players of the Week Announced
MAC East Player of the Week:
Kiyanna Black / Ohio / Guard
Sr. / Columbus, Ohio / Columbus Afrocentric
Senior guard Kiyanna Black led the Bobcats to a 2-0 week in Mid-American Conference play and helped keep Ohio perfect in league action.
On Jan. 16 against Central Michigan, Black had arguably the best game of her career, single handedly leading the Bobcats to an 86-84 come-from-behind overtime victory in Athens. Down 10 points with four minutes to go, Black play helped spark the Bobcats to a victory, where they did not lead at any point during regulation. Black scored a career-high 39 points, 34 points in the second and overtime alone. Black was 12-of-24 (.500) from the field, 5-of-13 (.384) from three-point range and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Black grabbed three boards, had two steals and dished out three assists. Black’s 39 points in the second most points scored in a game in program history.
On Jan. 13 at Eastern Michigan, Black scored 17 points, going 6-of-17 (.352) from the field and 3-of-17 (.272) from three-point range. She was also 2-of-2 from the line. She also grabbed three rebounds, dished out three assists and had one steal in the 71-64 victory over the MAC West leading Eagles.
Overall, Black scored a total of 56 points (28.0 per game), had six assists (3.0 per game), six assists (3.0 per game) and three steals (1.5- per game). She was 18-of-41 (.439) from the field, 8-of-24 (.333) from beyond the arc and a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line. Ohio is now 12-3 overall and 5-0 in league play.
MAC West Player of the Week:
Miracle Woods / Western Michigan / Forward
Sr. / Fort Wayne, Ind. / Bishop Luers
Woods has been a huge part of the Broncos success this season, helping WMU to an 11-6 overall record and 7-0 at home. The case was no different the last two games, where Woods took the game over on offense and helped WMU win two straight on their home floor recording her second and third 20+ scoring game of the season and 14th and 15th of her career. . She also passed WMU great Tracy Wells with 1,350 career points for ninth place all-time.
Against Kent State, Woods was perfect from the floor shooting 11-for-11 and 1-for-1 from the free-throw en route to a game-high 23 points. She became the only player in WMU history to attempt more than 10 shots in a game and make all of them, once again making her mark in the WMU record books. In the second quarter alone, WMU outscored the Golden Flashes 26-11, its highest scoring quarter of the season as Woods went 6-for-6 in the big quarter.
In limited minutes against Miami, Woods was still able to put up 21 points on another highly efficient game shooting 9-for-15 and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. Woods scored 13 of her 21 points in the first half helping the Broncos to a halftime lead they would not surrender.
Other Nominees:
Anita Brown / Akron / Guard
Sr. / Warren, Ohio / Warren Harding
Senior Anita Brown turned in a stellar week averaging team-high marks in scoring (24.5), rebounding (8.5) and blocks (1.0), while shooting better than 55 percent (.553) from the field, to lead the Zips to a pair of road victories.
She has guided Akron to wins in its first three league games for the first time in program history.
Brown scored a game-high 23 points, while pulling down seven rebounds to spark the Zips to only their second-ever road victory past Bowling Green on Wednesday, Jan. 13. She connected on nearly 65 percent (.647) of her shots from the field and made her lone three-point attempt.
She followed registering her team-leading fourth double double of the season pouring in a game-high 26 points, while adding a team-best 10 rebounds. She made 10 of her 21 attempts, including 1-for-1 beyond the arc.
On the season, Brown is averaging 21.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest, while shooting better than 44 percent from the floor.
Joanna Smith / Buffalo / Guard
Jr. / Southaven, Miss. / Southaven
Junior guard Joanna Smith continued to produce for the Bulls despite dropping two close conference games this week. The Bulls leading scorer finished the week averaging 18.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals per contest while leading UB in scoring in both defeats. On Wednesday night at Ball State, Smith fought through a slow start offensively and finished off the game with 21 points, her third straight game going over the 20+ point plateau. She also finished with six rebounds while missing the potential game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation. On Saturday at Alumni Arena, the shots were falling for Smith but she hung with it as she scored a game-high seven points in the final quarter as the Bulls made a run to get back into the game. Smith finished off the game with 16 points and four boards while notching a career-high six steals in the loss. On the year, Smith ranks fifth in the MAC in scoring (17.3 PPG) while also averaging 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest. She is also tied for third in the MAC and leads the Bulls in three-pointers made (45) on the year.
Leah Purvis / Miami / Guard
Fr. / Los Angeles, Calif. / The Buckley School
Purvis got her offensive game back on track, while also providing a strong all around performance in two games this week. The freshman point guard averaged 15.0 points per game and hit over 50 percent (12-for-22/54.5 percent) of all her shots. She also averaged 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. Against Toledo on Wednesday, Purvis had a team-leading 18 points, finishing 4-for-9 from three point range. She tied for the team lead with 12 points against Western Michigan on Saturday. She also contributed five assists and three steals, while hitting 6-for-9 from the field. Purvis is Miami’s second leading scorer at 9.5 points per game and has scored in double figures in seven of those contests.
Nathalie Fontaine / Ball State / Guard
Sr. / Stockholm. Sweden
Fontaine helped the Cardinals remain undefeated at home this season (8-0) with Ball State's 68-63 win over Buffalo Wednesday in MAC action. Fontaine scored in double figures against Buffalo and Bowling Green in this weeks action. She has now scored in double figures in all of Ball State's games this year and has now scored in double digits 101 times out of 112 total game. At Bowling Green, Fontaine collected her 27th double-double of her career after scoring 12 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Against Buffalo, Fontaine chipped in 13 points and 11 rebounds. Fontaine needs only two points to move up to second all-time in scoring, she currently has 1,849 points for her career. For the week, Fontaine averaged 12.5 points per game and 11.5 rebounds.
Tinara Moore / Central Michigan / Forward
So. / Southgate, Mich. / Southgate Anderson
Central Michigan’s Tinara Moore continued her dominant performance recording her fifth-straight double-double, ninth on the season in CMU’s pair of games last week. Moore averaged 17.0 points per game and 11.0 rebounds last week, shooting 14-of-19 (.736). In CMU’s 95-63 win over Northern Illinois Moore scored 12 points and 11 rebounds, tallied one steal and went 2-of-2 from the three throw line. On Saturday the sophomore racked up 22 points and pulled down 11 boards on the road against Ohio. Moore went 9-of-11 (.818) from the field and tallied three blocks. The Southgate, Mich. native is averaging 18.0 ppg during MAC play, tied for fourth best, and pulling down a MAC-best 13.8 rebounds through the first five games. Moore also leads the MAC during conference play in field goal percentage .736.
Phillis Webb / Eastern Michigan / Guard
Jr. / Brooklyn Park, Minn. / Osseo
Junior Phillis Webb helped lead the Eagles offense with a double-double as she averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds a contest as EMU finished with a 1-1 week. In a MAC Championship game rematch against Ohio, Webb tied her career high with 15 rebounds while adding 17 points in 30 minutes of work. She followed it up with another 17 point effort against Kent State while making her defense noticed with four steals on the afternoon. Webb is one of only two players in the MAC to averaged more than 14.0 points and eight rebounds this season.
Kelly Smith / Northern Illinois / Forward
So. / Hartland, Wis. / Arrowhead
Kelly Smith led the Huskies in scoring twice last week, averaging a career-high 19.5 points in two road games at Central Michigan and Toledo with a field goal percentage of .454.
At CMU, Smith set a career-high with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, beating her previous best of 20 points set one-game prior versus Eastern Michigan. Smith was a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line and 1-of-2 behind the three point line.
Against the Rockets, Smith accrued a game-high 18 points despite finding herself in foul trouble in the first half. The sophomore scored 11 points in the third quarter to help the Huskies erase a 14-point deficit to two in the period. She was 6-of-9 from the field in the second half to finish the game 7-of-17.
Brenae Harris / Toledo / Guard
Sr. / Marion, Ohio / Marion
Senior Brenae Harris contributed a team-high 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and squad-best 2.0 steals in two Toledo victories this past week. Harris led the Rockets in scoring in both games and helped the Midnight Blue & Gold remain in a first-place tie atop the MAC West Division standings in a team-best 37.0 minutes.
Harris opened the week with 16 points, three helpers and a squad-best three steals in 36 minutes at Miami on Wednesday. Harris took the game over in the second half against the RedHawks, tallying 12 points and two dimes while playing all 20 minutes. Three days later against Northern Illinois, the 2014-15 honorable mention All-MAC honoree totaled 17 points, a team-tying high eight caroms, five dimes and one rejection in a squad-best 38 minutes.
Overall this season, Harris is averaging a team-high 14.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, a squad-best 5.2 assists and a squad-best 1.2 steals in a team-high 35.1 minutes per game.
