Drake's Sara Rhine averaged 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 71.4% from the field in road wins over Indiana State and Evansville, earning her sixth MVC Player of the Week honor of the season. The six awards rank tied for second all-time in Valley history for a single season with Rachael Hackbarth of Drake (2011-12). Bradley freshman Lasha Petree scored 21 points with four rebounds in the Braves' win over rival Illinois State Saturday, earning her third Newcomer of the Week honor.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Sara Rhine, Jr., F, Drake
Sara Rhine helped Drake win road games at Indiana State and Evansville this past weekend. Rhine averaged 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 steal per game while shooting a blistering 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the floor. She scored a game-high 19 points, including knocking down the winning free throws in the 70-68 comeback win over the Sycamores. She added six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 30 minutes. Rhine followed that great performance with her seventh double-double of the season in the victory over the Purple Aces. She scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and added a game-high 11 rebounds in just 20 minutes.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Lasha Petree, Fr., G, Bradley
Petree came off the bench to score a team-high 21 points in 17 minutes of action as she helped power Bradley to a 79-68 road win at rival Illinois State. She scored 16 of her team-best 21 points in the second half to help the Braves pull away down the stretch. Petree was 8-for-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range and also tallied four rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal to help Bradley improve to 3-0 on the road in MVC play for just the third time in program history. She had a personal 7-0 run late in the third quarter to help the Braves push a one-point lead to eight and scored nine points in the fourth quarter.
Noteworthy - In addition to the league's player and newcomer of the week selections, several conference players had notable performances, and they include:
Janae Gonzales (LUC) - Loyola freshman Janae Gonzales averaged 18.0 points and shot nearly 53 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the three-point arc in a pair of road contests for the Maroon & Gold this past weekend. After chipping in six points in Friday’s setback at Missouri State, Gonzales erupted for a career-high 30 points in Sunday’s clash with Southern Illinois. The Tolleson, Ariz. product connected on eight of her 13 attempts from distance, finishing just one triple shy of former Rambler great Maggie McCloskey’s single-game school record of nine made threes in a game. Since the start of Valley play, Gonzales, who is operating at a 40 percent (42-of-104) clip from three-point land this season, has knocked down a league-best 3.4 three-point field goals per game.
Sydney Manning (MSU) - Sydney Manning led the Lady Bears in scoring in both games last week, averaging 13 points on 56 percent shooting, including 7-for-12 from beyond the arc. She added 3.5 rebounds per game, two steals and an assist, all in just 34 total minutes. Manning caught fire in Friday’s win against Loyola, knocking down three 3-pointers and adding a conventional 3-point play in just three and a half minutes during the second quarter for a game-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Sunday, Manning went 4-for-6 from long range, tallying a career-high 14 points to go with three rebounds and two steals.
Karli Rucker (UNI) - Karli shot .588 from the field and .800 from the three-point line to lead UNI to a pair of MVC road wins. She scored 10 points and added four assists and two steals in the win against Evansville. She tallied 14 points, three assists and three steals in the win against Indiana State. She shot 4-7 from the field against Evansville and 6-10 against Indiana State. She averaged 4.0 rebounds in the two games as well.
Nicole Martin (SIU) - Southern Illinois junior Nicole Martin averaged 17.5 points on 57.1% (12-for-21) shooting from the field, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in SIU’s two home wins over the weekend. The Jefferson City, Mo. native stuffed the stat sheet in Friday night’s win over Valparaiso, as she finished with 16 points, five boards, three assists, a block and a steal in 29 minutes of play. She followed with her fourth double-double of the season, and seventh of her career, in SIU’s win over Loyola on Sunday. The Preseason All-MVC selection poured in a team-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and an assist to help Southern improve to 8-1 at home on the year. It marked the third-straight game, and 14th time this season, that Martin has reached double figures.
Addison Stoller (VALPO) - Stoller upped her career highs in both scoring (22) and rebounding (11) on Jan. 25 at Southern Illinois, compiling her second career double-double in the process. She became the first Valpo player with multiple double-doubles this season and the first Valpo player to score 20 or more points and pull down 10 or more rebounds in the same game since Dani Franklin on Dec. 10, 2017 against Chicago State. Stoller turned in Valpo’s first 20&10 game in conference play as a member of the MVC. She followed that by reaching double figures for the 11th time this season despite playing only 18 minutes on Jan. 27 at Missouri State, scoring 12 points in that game against the league’s co-leader.
Monica Burich (DU) - Monica Burich scored nine points and pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds, including a career-best eight offensive rebounds, in the win over Evansville. For the second time in the past three games, she just missed recording a double-double.
Makayla Wallace (UE) - Freshman Makayla Wallace put together a pair of impressive performances. Facing UNI on Friday evening, Wallace finished in double-figures, scoring 10 points, while getting to the free-throw line nine times, adding two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. On Sunday afternoon. against Drake, Wallace led the Aces with 12 points and a career-high eight rebounds, along with two assists and one steal. Since beginning conference play, Wallace has scored double-digits six times, including six of the last seven games, after recording a double-figure scoring performance just once during non-conference play. Wallace leads Evansville in assists (2.3 per game), steals (2.2 per game), free-throws made (54), and free-throws attempted (87).
Daijah Smith (INS) - True freshman Daijah Smith recorded a career-high 14 points against Drake and shot 47% from the field over the week as Indiana State nearly upset the Bulldogs and ended the league’s longest conference winning streak. Smith shot 50% from the 3-point line, was 5-for-7 from the free throw line and averaged 12.0 points per game on the weekend. The Sycamores led Drake for 27 minutes and Drake didn’t hold a second half lead until 4 seconds remained in the game as Smith was 4 of 8 from the field against the Bulldogs as part of an 8 of 17 performance from the field for the week.
Cynthia Wolf (UNI) - Wolf scored seven points against Evansville and five against Indianan State. She also averaged 3.5 rebounds.
Payton McCallister (SIU) - Payton McCallister averaged 5.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in just over 8.5 minutes of work in SIU’s two home wins over the weekend. McCallister dished out two assists and notched her second career block in the win over Valparaiso Friday night. On Sunday, McCallister was one of four Salukis to reach double figures in a 74-63 win over Loyola, as she went for 10 points on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. The Columbia, Mo. native also added three boards and an assist in the win. It was the fourth time this season that the freshman guard has scored in double figures and the first time she has done so since SIU’s win over Hartford on Nov. 23, 2018.
Shay Frederick (VALPO) - Frederick averaged 12.5 points per game on the Carbondale/Springfield swing this weekend. The freshman point guard made a career-high six field goals at MVC co-leader Missouri State on Jan. 27, swishing four triples for the third time this season. She finished that game with 17 points, two shy of a career high, after turning in eight on Friday at Southern Illinois including a pair of 3s.