MAC Women's Basketball Players of the Week Announced
MAC East Player of the Week:
Joanna Smith / Buffalo / Guard
Jr. / Southaven, Miss. / Southaven
Junior guard Joanna Smith continued to score for the Bulls last week as she helped lead UB to an upset victory over first-place Ohio on Wednesday night at home. Smith finished off her week averaging 18.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 assists while shooting 50% from the floor and 55.6% from behind the arc. Smith led the Bulls with 16 points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists in UB’s win over Ohio, the Bobcats first conference loss of the season. On Saturday, Smith went off for 21 points and five rebounds as the Bulls lost to Ball State, 59-57. On the year, Smith is averaging a team-high 18.6 PPG and 5.7 rebounds while leading the team with 63 three-pointers, ranking seventh in program history in made three-pointers in a season. Smith leads the MAC in scoring in conference games (22.4 PPG) and three pointers.
MAC West Player of the Week:
Nathalie Fontaine / Ball State / Guard
Sr. / Stockholm, Sweden
Senior guard Nathalie Fontaine helped the Cardinals get back on the winning track this week in Mid-American Conference action. Fontaine started the week off with a game high 22 points and 14 rebounds for her 29th career double-double in a 78-71 win over Akron Wednesday night in Worthen Arena. Fontaine was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe in the second half. She had 12 points and nine rebounds after halftime. On Saturday, Fontaine helped Ball State erase a 14-point deficit from the first half to pull out a 59-57 victory on the road at Buffalo. Fontaine scored 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds against the Bulls. The senior guard scored 16 of her points in the second half. For the week, Fontaine averaged 20.0 points and 11.5 rebounds while shooting 53 percent from the field and 85 percent from the free throw line. She has now increased her career point total to 1,943 points (second best in school history).
Other Nominees:
Hannah Plybon / Akron / Guard
Jr. / Orrville, Ohio / Orrville
Junior Hannah Plybon turned in a strong week averaging 18.5 points per game, while connecting on eight three pointers en route to shooting 50 percent from both the field and beyond the arc in a pair of contests for the Zips.
Plybon opened the week connecting on a trio of three pointers en route to posting 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting in a 78-71 setback at Ball State on Wednesday.
Plybon scored 22 of her career-best 26 points in the second half, including recording her 1,000th career point, to propel the Zips to a 77-65 victory past Miami Saturday, Feb. 6, at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Plybon became the second Akron player to surpass 1,000 career points as a Zip this season when she sank the second of two free throws with 46 seconds remaining in the contest.
Plybon connected on five three pointers on the afternoon en route to directing three Zips scoring in double figures with 26 points.
On the season, Plybon is averaging 16.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while connecting on a team-best 3.0 three pointers per outing.
Rachel Myers / Bowling Green / Guard
Sophomore / Findlay, Ohio / Liberty-Benton
Bowling Green sophomore guard Rachel Myers exploded for a career-high 24 points in the Falcons’ lone game of the week, a narrow 76-75 loss on the road against West Division-leading Central Michigan. Myers made seven three-point field goals, just one shy of tying the school single-game record. Myers led a BG offense that recorded a season-high point total and tied the school record with 16 successful three-pointers. Myers missed her first two three-point attempts of the afternoon, then proceeded to make the next seven in a row. She also had four rebounds, three steals and two assists in 37 minutes of action. On the season, Myers is averaging 8.3 points and 2.1 rebounds, and has connected on 41.1% of her three-point field goal attempts, ranking fourth in the conference in that category. In MAC games only, Myers has 10.3 ppg and is shooting 46.4% from three-point range to rank second in the MAC.
Leah Purvis / Miami / Guard
Fr. / Los Angeles, Calif. / The Buckley School
Purvis was Miami’s leading scorer this week, averaging 13.0 points per game. She once again proved to be the RedHawks top threat behind the arc, draining five 3-point buckets. Against Kent State, she had seven points and four rebounds, along with leading the Miami offense as its point guard to a victory over the Golden Flashes. On the road against Akron on Saturday, she led the ‘Hawks with 19 points, hitting four 3-pointers. She also brought in three rebounds. Purvis has now finished in double figures in 10 games during her rookie season and has been Miami’s leading scorer in five contests.
Quiera Lampkins / Ohio / Guard
Jr. / Gahanna, Ohio / Gahanna Lincoln
Ohio women’s basketball junior guard Quiera Lampkins led the Bobcats over the weekend, leading Ohio to a 1-1 week.
On Feb. 3 in a 51-43 setback at Buffalo, Lampkins scored 11 points, grabbed three rebounds, has three assists and three steals. She was 4-of-9 (.444) from the field, 0-of-1 from three-point range and 3-of-3 from the free throw line.
On Feb. 6, Lampkins scored a game-high 23 points, going 6-of-12 (.500) from the field, 2-of-5 (.400) from three-point range and 9-of-12 (.750) from the free throw line. Lampkins also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a team-leading seven assists and had a team-leading seven steals in the Bobcats’ 95-70 victory against Northern Illinois.
Overall, Lampkins scored 34 points (17.0 per game), had 10 rebounds (5.0 per game), 10 assists (5.0 per game) and 10 steals (5.0) per game. She shot 10-of-21 (.476) from the field, 2-of-6 (.333) from three-point range and was 12-of-15 (.800) from the free throw line.
Reyna Frost / Central Michigan / Forward
Fr. / Reese, Mich. / Reese
Central Michigan earned a pair of wins over the week to improve to 9-2 and remain on top of the MAC West standings. Freshman Reyna Frost continued to pace the Chippewas averaging 17.0 points and 10 boards in CMU’s two wins. In the Chippewas win over Eastern Michigan Frost chipped in 10 points and pulled down 14 boards. Frost also added two blocks, one of which came as time ran out on the clock to secure a CMU win. The Reese, Mich. native continued to roll Saturday against Bowling Green scoring a team-high 24 points, adding six boards and one steal. During MAC play Frost is averaging 11.2 points per game and 10.6 rebounds, third best. Frost is the only freshman to appear in the top-15 of the conference rebounding rankings.
Cha Sweeney / Eastern Michigan / Guard
Jr. / Toledo, Ohio / Rogers
Junior Cha Sweeney continued to reemerge from a shooting slump, as the junior guard averaged 22.0 points while shooting 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from three-point range. She also averaged seven rebounds a game while dishing out three assists and two steals in 38.5 minutes of work. Against CMU, Sweeney notched 23 points and eight rebounds against the Division leaders. Then against the rival Broncos, she added 21 points and six caroms. Of her 21 points, nine of them came in overtime including a shot/pass to Phillis Webb for the tying score to force the second overtime.
Mikayla Voigt / Northern Illinois / Guard
Fr. / Slinger, Wis. / Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Freshman Mikayla Voigt led the Huskies in scoring for the second-straight game, scoring 16 points in the contest, including 11 in the final period of play.
Voigt finished 2-for-5 behind the three-point line against the Mid-American Conference leaders and dished a team-best four assists to help NIU distribute 17 in the game.
Northern Illinois University converted a season-high nine three-point baskets in the game, its best performance since nine field goal day versus Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 30 in Dallas, Texas.
The Huskies out rebounded Ohio in the game, 41-38, including 17-14 in the on the offensive glass.
Brenae Harris / Toledo / Guard
Sr. / Marion, Ohio / Marion
Senior Brenae Harris averaged a team-high 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, a squad-best 4.5 assists and a team-tying best 2.0 steals in a pair of UT victories this past week. Harris shot 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from the field, including 20.0 percent (1-of-5) from three-point land, and 85.7 percent (12-of-14) from the charity stripe in a squad-high 38.5 minutes per contest.
Harris opened the week with 16 points, five boards, four helpers and one theft in a career-tying best 39 minutes at Western Michigan on Wednesday. Three days later against the Golden Flashes, Harris totaled 15 points, two caroms, five dimes, one rejection and a game-high three steals in 38 minutes.
The Marion, OH native was outstanding in the second half against KSU, accounting for 11 points over the course of the final 20 minutes to help extend UT’s winning streak to three-consecutive games.
Harris has now scored in double figures on a team-high 14 occasions this season.
Jessica Jessing / Western Michigan / Forward
Sr. / Sylvania, Ohio / Sylvania Northview
Senior Jessica Jessing was one of two players on the Broncos in double-figures against Toledo on Wednesday, Feb. 6. Jessing scored 13 points and went 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, once again upping her terrific 3-point shooting percentage in MAC play to .444 this season.
On the road against Eastern Michigan, Jessing accomplished something only eight players in WMU history have done by pulling down 18 rebounds including six on the offensive end. This accomplishment hasn’t been done since the 2013-14 season. The total shattered Jessing’s old career-high of 13 rebounds she had earlier this season. She finished just one point shy of her third career double-double.
Jessing’s big week on the glass shot her up to fifth in the conference in rebounding at 7.4 per game and also third in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage at .444. Jessing is also now No. 10 in the conference in offensive rebounds a game with 2.5 a game.
