MAC Women's Basketball Players of the Week Announced
MAC East Player of the Week:
Larissa Lurken / Kent State / Guard
Jr. / Cottage Grove, Minn. / Park
Lurken had a huge week, setting records in Kent State’s first conference victory of the season. Her 37 points on Wednesday tied for the 8th-most in a game in Kent State history. She tied the Golden Flashes’ single-season record with 7 made threes in a game, and did it on just eight attempts. She added in 11 rebounds to record a double-double. She was a rebound shy of another double-double on Saturday, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds. Lurken was also great at the line all week, making 12 of her 14 attempts.
MAC West Player of the Week:
Janice Monakana / Toledo / Forward
Jr. / London, England / Greig City Academy
Junior Janice Monakana led a season-tying best four Rockets in double figures with 21 points against arch-rival Bowling Green on Saturday. Monakana shot an efficient 7-of-12 from the field in the 74th addition of the "Battle of I-75", including a season-tying best 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to record her third-career game with at least 20 points.
The London, England native added a contest-best six caroms and a game-high three thefts to help lift the Midnight Blue & Gold to its fifth win in the last six meetings against the Falcons.
Monakana has now led UT in scoring in each of the last two games and on five occasions this year.
Overall this season, Monakana is averaging 10.4 points, a team-high 5.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.2 steals in 25.1 minutes per game.
Other Nominees:
Anita Brown / Akron / Guard
Sr. / Warren, Ohio / Warren Harding
Senior Anita Brown turned in a strong week averaging team-high marks in scoring (21.5), while also posting 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 blocks in a pair of games for the Zips.
Brown scored a game-high 16 points in a battle between the top two-teams in the MAC East Division last Wednesday, Jan. 27. She also pulled down eight rebounds and connected on a pair of three pointers.
She followed pouring in a game-high 27 points in a come-from-behind 75-72 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 30. She fell one rebound shy of registering the double-double, while also dishing out five assists.
Eighteen of her 27 points came in the second half when she connected on 54 percent of her shots to help the Zips erase a 12-point third-quarter deficit en route to completing the season sweep of the Eagles.
On the season, Brown is averaging team-high marks in scoring (21.9) and rebounding (7.9), while rating second on the squad in assists (2.5) and steals (1.2).
Lauren Tibbs / Bowling Green / Guard
Sr. / Taylor Mill, Ky. / Scott
Bowling Green senior center Lauren Tibbs led the Falcons in scoring and rebounding as the Falcons split a pair of games last week. Tibbs averaged 15.0 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 51.9% from the field in the two games. She just missed a double-double, with 14 points and nine rebounds as the Falcons defeated West Division preseason favorite Eastern Michigan, 67-63. Then, she tied her season high in points, making a season-high eight field goals en route to a team-leading 16 points at Toledo on Saturday. On the season, Tibbs is averaging 11.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocks, leading the Falcons in all three categories. She is also shooting a team-best 55.8% from the field. Tibbs is averaging 12.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg in MAC games, again leading the Falcons in each category. The Falcons are 8-10 overall and 4-5 in the MAC.
Joanna Smith / Buffalo / Guard
Jr. / Southaven, Miss. / Southaven
Junior guard Joanna Smith continued her excellent play on Saturday as she exploded for a career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls. The junior was unstoppable as she notched her second career double-double while surpassing her old career-high in points by five and rebounds by three. Smith finished the first half with a respectable 11 points before going off for a career-high 18 points in the third quarter. She went 6-for-10 in the quarter including 5-for-7 from behind the arc while grabbing four boards in 10 minutes of play. She finished the game going 10-for-19 from the floor including 7-for-11 from behind the arc while also dishing out three assists for just the second time this season. Her seven three-pointers rank third all-time in program history for three’s in a single game. Smith has now went over the 20-point plateau 10 times this season including eight times in the last 10 games for the Bulls. Smith now ranks eighth in program history for three-pointers made in a season (58). She now leads the MAC in scoring in conference games (22.4 PPG) while leading UB and ranking third in overall scoring (18.6 PPG).
Leah Purvis / Miami / Guard
Fr. / Los Angeles, Calif. / The Buckley School
Purvis was Miami’s leading scorer in its only game of the week. She came out on fire, hitting her first five shots, including four 3-pointers to finish with 14 points in the first quarter at Central Michigan. She finished with 18 points for the game, hitting 50 percent of her shots. She also contributed a rebound, an assist, two steals and a block in 30 minutes of action.
Kiyanna Black / Ohio / Guard
Sr. / Columbus, Ohio / Columbus Afrocentric
Ohio women’s basketball senior Kiyana Black led Ohio this week, helping the Bobcats to a 2-0 weekend.
On Jan. 27 at home against Akron, Black scored 15 points going 5-of-13 from the field, 3-of-8 from the three-point line and 2-of-3 from the free throw line in the Bobcats’ 75-55 victory. Black also grabbed two rebounds, grabbed one assist and had one steal in the victory.
On Jan. 30 at Ball State, Black led Ohio again, leading all scorers with 23 points, going 6-of-21 from the field, 4-of-14 from the three-point line and 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the Bobcats’ 68-68 come-from-behind victory. She also grabbed one rebound, dished out two assists and had two steals. Black was also the spark that led Ohio from a nine-point deficit with three minutes remaining in the game against MAC West-leading Cardinals. Black was called to the free throw line for the two Ball State technical in the fourth quarter, making all four free throws.
Overall, Black scored 38 points (19.0 per game), three rebounds (1.5 per game), three assists (1.50 per game) and three steals (1.50 per game). Black shot 11-of-34 (.323) from the field, 7-of-22 (.318) from beyond the arc and 9-of-11 (.818) from the free throw line. Blacks performance helped lead Ohio to it’s 12th-straight win and to the team’s first 9-0 conference start in program history.
Nathalie Fontaine / Ball State / Guard
Sr. / Stockholm, Sweden
Ball State suffered a heartbreaking loss to Ohio Saturday afternoon in Worthen Arena. The game against East leader, Ohio was the Cardinals lone Mid-American Conference contest last week. Despite the loss Fontaine continued to perform well like she has all season. The senior guard scored 18-points and brought down 12 rebounds for her 28th career double-double and her 10th of the season. Fontaine has now scored in double figures in all 19 of the Cardinals games this season. After Saturday’s game, Fontaine now has 1,903 career points and needs only 190 to break the all-time scoring record at Ball State.
Tinara Moore / Central Michigan / Forward
So. / Southgate, Mich. / Southgate Anderson
Tinara Moore continued her dominant play and guided the Chippewas to two MAC wins, and extended the Chippewas’ perfect home win-streak in conference play to five. Moore recorded a pair of double-doubles, her 12th of the season, in wins over rival Western Michigan and Miami (Oh). Moore’s 12 double-doubles is tied for 11th best in the country and most among the conference. She has scored in double figures every MAC game this season, equaling nine-straight games. The sophomore averaged 13.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in two games, shooting 12-of-18 (.667) from the floor. The Southgate, Mich. native also tallied three blocks, two assists and one steal during the week. During MAC play Moore has made a conference-best 58 field goals, ranks first in rebounds (12.2), blocks (17) and second in field goal percentage (.674).
Janay Morton / Eastern Michigan / Guard
Jr. / Brooklyn Park, Minn. / Osseo
Junior Janay Morton continued to reemerge from a shooting slump, as the junior guard averaged 14.5 points while shooting 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from three-point range. She also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists a contest as the Eagles played back-to-back games on the road. Against Akron, Morton finished with a season-best six triples to finish with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists to key EMU. Morton, who leads the MAC in steals, picked up two swipes in each tilt as well.
Mikayla Voigt / Northern Illinois / Guard
Fr. / Slinger, Wis. / Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Mikayla Voigt set a new career-high at Kent State, scoring 19 points in a comeback effort at the M.A.C. Center as she recored 14 points in the fourth quarter to erase a 20-point fourth quarter deficit to just four points with 47 seconds left. Voigt went 8-for-14 from the field in the second half with a 3-for-6 clip behind the three-point line.
The freshman was steady against Buffalo, hitting four of the Huskies seven three-pointers in the game. Voigt dished five assists in the game and added six rebounds in the effort. Her 17 points led NIU in the victory and her hot shooting gave opportunity to Courtney Glenn, who made the game-winner behind the arc to earn the No. 4 spot on SportCenter’s top-10 Saturday night.
With the help of Voigt’s ball movement, NIU totaled 42 assists on the weekend as it dished 21 in each contest. The Huskies victory at the buzzer was their first since Nov. 19, 2010 at Southern Illinois when Courtney Shelton hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Alex Morton / Western Michigan / Guard
Sr. / Granger, Ind. / Mishawaka Penn
Morton was the lone member of the Broncos to score in double-figures in each of the games this past week getting 10 points in each. Against Central Michigan, Morton was second on the team in points, led the team with four steals, two 3-pointers and 33 minutes played while also tying for the team lead in assists.
Against the Golden Flashes, Morton sparked a second half comeback after the Broncos trailed 33-30 heading into the second half. She came out and scored the first five points and finished with 10 points, all of which came in the second half. In the second half alone, Morton went 4-for-5 and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc to help WMU outscore Kent State 37-22 and come out with a 65-53 win on the road.
After the efficient 4-of-7 week from beyond the arc, Morton secured her place as No. 5 in the Mid-American Conference in 3-point shooting this season at .450. She is also No. 4 in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio.
