MAC Women's Basketball Players of the Week Announced
MAC East Player of the Week:
Quiera Lampkins / Ohio / Guard
Jr. / Gahanna, Ohio / Gahanna Lincoln
Junior guard Quiera Lampkins helped lead Ohio to a 2-0 week and a 1-0 conference play start. In Ohio’s Mid-American Conference Opener against Western Michigan on Jan. 2, Lampkins dominated the paint and helped Ohio rally to a 73-63 victory. Lampkins scored a career-high 33 points, 25 of them in the second half. Lampkins went 12-of-22 (.545) from the field, 1-of-2 from three-point range and 8-of-11 (.727) from the free throw line. Lampkins’ 12 made field goals and 22 attempted field goals were also career-highs for the junior. Lampkins also had four rebounds, two assists, a career-high six steals and one block. Overall on the week, Lampkins scored a total of 44 points (22.0 per game), grabbed nine rebounds (4.5 per game), dished out five assists (2.50 per game), grabbed nine steals (4.50 per game) and recorded one block. Shooting, Lampkins finished the weekend 16-of-32 (.500) from the field, 1-of-3 (.333) from three-point range and 11-of-15 (.733) from the free throw line.
On Dec. 29 against Middle Tennessee State, Lampkins scored 11 points, going 4-of-10 (.400) from the field and making three of her four free throw attempts. Lampkins also had five rebounds, three assists and three steals in Ohio’s 72-49 victory to help the Bobcats close out the nonconference schedule with an 8-3 record. Lampkins has now scored in double-figures for the eighth-straight game, where the Bobcats are 6-2 in that stretch.
MAC West Player of the Week:
Nathalie Fontaine / Ball State / Guard
Sr. / Stockholm. Sweden
Despite Saint Louis' game plan Monday night, Nathalie Fontaine scored a game-high 24 points and claimed 15 rebounds. Fontaine helped guide the Cardinals to a 79-70 victory over the Billikens Monday night in Worthen Arena. On Saturday, Fontaine opened Mid-American Conference action with her 24th career double-double after scoring 21 points and pulling down 11 rebounds helping the Cardinals open league action with a 75-69 victory over Toledo after coming back from a 17-point deficit. Fontaine has now scored 20+ points in her last eight games. She currently sits in third place on Ball State's women's basketball all-time scoring list with 1,787 points and has pulled down 777 career rebounds, which is good for seventh all-time. Fontaine has now scored in double figures 98 times out of 109 total games in her career. She currently ranks sixth in the nation in scoring, 36th in rebounds per game, 29th in double-doubles, 16th in free throw attempts, 10th in free throws made and 16th in field goals made. Fontaine is second in the nation for most points scored in a game this season, third in field goals made and fourth in free throw attempts. Fontaine has helped the Cardinals to one of their best non-conference records (8-3) since the 2006-07 season and a perfect 6-0 ledger at Worthen Arena.?
Other Nominees:
Anita Brown / Akron / Guard
Sr. / Warren, Ohio / Warren Harding
Senior Anita Brown turned in another strong outing for the Zips pouring in a game-high 24 points in Akron’s league opener versus Northern Illinois. Brown added to her all-around game pulling down a team-best eight rebounds, while distributing a game-high four assists and recording two steals and a block. She finished the contest shooting 45.5 percent from the field, hitting on 10 of her 22 attempts. Thirteen of her 24 points came in a second half that featured 11 lead changes and three ties with the outcome not decided until the game’s final minute. On the season, Brown is averaging 22.1 points, 8.0 rebound and 2.4 assists per game, while shooting 44.8 percent from the field.
Rachel Myers / Bowling Green / Guard
Sophomore / Findlay, Ohio / Liberty-Benton
Bowling Green sophomore guard Rachel Myers tied for game scoring honors, with a season-high 16 points in the Falcons’ lone game of the week, a 64-58 win at Miami. Myers went 6-of-9 from the field, hitting 4-of-6 three-point attempts in the contest, as BG battled back from a 14-point deficit to pick up the road win. Myers tied her career high in three-point field goals made. She had 11 of her points in the second half, hitting a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter, then knocking down another triple with 6:26 left in the game that brought the Falcons within one point. Her final points came on a driving layup with 2:39 to go that gave the Falcons a three-point lead. On the season, Myers is averaging 7.1 points per game. She leads the team with 17 three-pointers, and is 6-of-10 from long distance over her last two games.
Joanna Smith / Buffalo / Guard
Jr. / Southaven, Miss. / Southaven
Junior guard Joanna Smith was the best player on the court for the Bulls over the last week as she helped lead UB to a 1-1 record as she averaged 21.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. The Southaven, MS native was nearly unstoppable in the Bulls 66-53 road win over Sacred Heart on Tuesday as she finished with 24 points on 8-for-14 from the floor while finishing with a career-high five three-pointers and seven rebounds in the win. Smith backed up her performance against the Pioneers with another strong outing in the Bulls MAC opener at Eastern Michigan as she notched a team-high 19 points while snagging five boards. The reigning MAC East Player of the Week has been on a tear as of late as she is averaging 23.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game over the last three games. The junior leads UB in scoring (16.1 PPG) while ranking second on the team in minutes per game (31.1 MPG) and third in rebounding (5.3 RPG).
Baleigh Reid / Miami / Guard
So. / Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg
Reid led Miami to within an overtime of a tournament championship at the FAU Holiday Tournament this week. She averaged 18 points per game in the two games down in Boca Raton and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Reid scored 17 points in the win over LIU Brooklyn on Tuesday and followed it up the next night with a 19 point performance in 40 minutes of action against host FAU. Reid scored seven points and had a career-high five assists against Bowling Green on Saturday. She averaged 14.3 points per game for the week.
Reyna Frost / Central Michigan / Forward
Fr. / Reese, Mich. / Reese
Central Michigan’s Reyna Frost guided the Chippewas to a 2-1 week, which included an 81-61 win over MAC foe Kent State. The freshman scored a game high 27 points going 13-of-20 (.650) from the floor. Frost pulled down nine boards, dished out three assists and added one steal in CMU’s MAC opener win. Over the three games Frost led CMU in scoring (13.7), field goal percentage (.594) and rebounds (9.3). The Reese, Mich. native ranks third in the MAC in rebounds (8.3) and is the only freshman within the top 15.
Cha Sweeney / Eastern Michigan / Guard
Jr. / Toledo, Ohio / Rogers
Junior Cha Sweeney continued to pace the EMU offense to its sixth consecutive victory with an average of 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists a game. In 33 minutes at Detroit, Sweeney poured in 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting to go along with seven caroms and seven assists. The victory gave EMU its seventh win in the month of December for the program’s winningest 12th calendar month in program history. In the contest, the Toledo, Ohio product became the ninth player in school history to pass the 1,400 point mark in their career. To open 2016, Sweeney helped key a rally against Buffalo to give the Eagles their first MAC win with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists. The win was EMU’s 11 MAC opening triumph in the past 14 seasons.
Ally Lehman / Northern Illinois / Guard
Jr. / Nineveh, Ind. / Indian Creek
Ally Lehman continued her hot streak this week averaging 17.5 points, 18 rebounds and six assists to lead the Huskies to two wins, including its first MAC opener win on the road since 2009. The junior recorded two double-doubles to give her of four-straight games with the feat. She also shot .571 from the field.
The Huskies back-to-back road wins marked the first time since Feb. 20-23, 2013 that NIU had accomplished the feat.
At Chicago State Wednesday night, the junior finished with 21 rebounds to become the eighth player in NIU history to reach the 20 board mark and the first since 2008. She also scored 11 points and dished nine assists, one assist shy of NIU’s first triple-double in 20 years. The Huskies would go on to beat the Cougars, 68-50.
In Akron, Lehman scored 24 points, shooting 9-of-17 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to will NIU to victory, 65-58. Lehman also pulled down 16 boards against the Zips and led the team with three assists in the game. NIU and Akron exchanged 12 leads in the game.
Janice Monakana / Toledo / Forward
Jr. / London, England / Greig City Academy
Junior Janice Monakana averaged a team-high 15.0 points in two games in past week. Monakana also contributed 5.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists and o.5 steals in 20.0 minutes per contest. The third-year Rocket shot an efficient 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from the field, including an impressive 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from three-point land, and a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Monakana began the week with nine points and seven caroms in 24 minutes vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the non-conference finale on Tuesday. The London, England native followed up that performance with a contest-tying best 21 points in only 16 minutes at Ball State in the MAC opener. Monakana knocked down a career-high eight field, including 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc, to tally at least 20 points for the second time in her Rocket career.
Monakana has now scored in double figures in seven of the last 10 games, tied for the second-highest total on the team.
Meredith Shipman / Western Michigan / Guard
Jr. / Fort Wayne, Ind. / Snyder
Shipman had a very efficient week doing most of her damage from beyond the arc where she went a perfect 3-for-3 against Ferris State and 4-for-8 against Ohio. Her four 3-pointers made against Ohio tied a career-high, making it the fourth time this season she has done so. She led the team in scoring and assists against Ferris State in limited minutes and was second on the team in scoring against Ohio. She connected on three of her four 3-pointers against Ohio in the first quarter, helping the Broncos to jump out to a 22-12 lead after one quarter.
