Illinois State's JuJu Redmond helped keep the Redbirds atop The Valley standings with a pair of road wins last week. Redmond averaged 26.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, surpassing 1,000 career points with a 37-point effort Saturday at Valpo. The award is Redmond's third Player of the Week honor of the season.
Evansville junior guard Je'Naiya Davis led the Aces to a split during the week against UNI and Indiana State. Davis averaged 19.5 points per game during the week, earning her third Newcomer of the Week honor.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
JuJu Redmond, 5th, G, Illinois State
Illinois State guard JuJu Redmond averaged 26.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists to help ISU pick up two Valley victories on the road at improve to 11-2 in the league standings. Redmond led all scorers in the Redbirds’ win at Loyola Chicago, recording 16 points paired with six rebounds and three assists. The fifth year then exploded for a career-high 37 points in ISU’s weekend finale at Valparaiso, adding five rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes played. The Chicago-native celebrated joining the Redbirds’ 1,000-point club on Saturday and now ranks 28th all-time in scoring with 1,034 career points.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Je’Naiya Davis, Jr., G, Evansville
In a pair of Valley games, junior Je’Naiya Davis returned to her high-scoring ways. The St. Louis, Mo. native reached double-figures in both contests this week, averaging 19.5 points to go along with four boards per game. Davis dropped a team-high 19 points in a road matchup with UNI on Tuesday, falling just shy of 50% shooting from the field. On Saturday night against Indiana State, Davis again notched a team-high in scoring, pouring-in 20 points on the Sycamores as Evansville battled back from an 18-point deficit to capture a 58-56 win. The junior now leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.9 points per game and sits fourth in The Valley in the category, the highest newcomer in the league in scoring average.
Noteworthy - In addition to the league's player and newcomer of the week selections, several conference players had notable performances, and they include:
Tatum Koenig (BU) - Koenig continued her impressive run since Gabi Haack’s season-ending injury, leading the Braves in scoring during both games of their Chicagoland trip to Valparaiso and Loyola Chicago … Koenig led all scorers with a career-best 27 points Thursday at Valpo, where she was 7-for-12 from the field, 4-for-6 from 3-point range and 9-for-10 from the free throw line, while adding five assists and four rebounds in her 40 minutes … Koenig came back by sharing game-high honors with 15 points Saturday at Loyola Chicago, where she also dished two assists and blocked a shot … Koenig now has scored in double figures in nine consecutive games and has made at least one 3-pointer in 13 consecutive games, boosting her season scoring average to 12.3 ppg and her average in league play to 15.9 ppg.
Maddie Petersen (DU) - Petersen scored her 1000 career point and 500 career assists over the weekend. She is one of only three players in Drake history to achieve both 1000 points and 500 assists on her career (joins Caitlin Ingle and Jenni Fitzgerald). She recorded 15 points, three assists, 1 steal, 1 rebound in her 55 minutes played between two games.
Riley Blackwell (LUC) - Loyola graduate student forward Riley Blackwell shot 58 percent (7-for-12) from the field and 57 percent (4-for-7) from three-point land as she averaged 10.0 points as the Ramblers split a pair of games last week. After putting up five points (2-3 FGs, 1-1 3FGs) and two assists against Illinois State on Thursday, Blackwell erupted for a season-high 15 points (5-9 FGs, 3-6 3FGs, 2-2 FTs) in Saturday’s 56-41 win over Bradley. Her performance highlighted a terrific showing by Loyola’s bench against the Braves, as the Ramblers’ reserves outscored their Bradley counterparts by a 31-2 margin.
Abi Jackson (MSU) - Senior Abi Jackson paced the Lady Bears last week with 19 ppg and 4.5 rpg to help lead MSU to a 2-0 record against Drake and UNI. Jackson shot 61 percent (17-28) from the field and led the team with four blocks on the weekend. On Friday against Drake, Jackson was 10-for-16 from the field and had a game high 22 points, which marks her third 20+ point game since the beginning of MVC play. Jackson also had six rebounds and two clutch free throws down the stretch to help secure MSU’s victory over the Bulldogs. On Sunday, Jackson went 7-for-12 (.583) from the field and was the game’s second leading scorer with 16 points, her 10th double digit scoring performance in MVC play. The senior tacked on three rebounds, an assist and went 2-for-3 from the charity stripe as MSU knocked off the Panthers. Jackson continues to lead the Lady Bears in conference games by averaging 14.6 ppg and 7.3 rpg against MVC opponents.
Abby Brockmeyer (SIU) - Saluki graduate forward Abby Brockmeyer averaged 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game as Southern went 3-0 this past week. On Wednesday at Indiana State, Brockmeyer notched a double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 boards. Brockmeyer shot 8-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in the contest. On Friday against UNI, the graduate forward scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Brockmeyer replicated that performance against Drake on Sunday, again scoring 16 points with seven boards. For the week, Brockmeyer shot 58.8% from the field. Brockmeyer currently leads the Valley in rebounding with 9.9 per game, is second in field goal percentage with a 53.3% mark, and is third in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game this year.
Shay Frederick (VU) - Frederick averaged a double-double over Valpo’s two games last weekend (13.0 points/game, 10.0 assists/game). In the Thursday win over Bradley, Frederick finished with 17 points, six rebounds, a career-high 11 assists and no turnovers. It was the first double-double of her career, and the 11 assists ties the single-game high by an MVC player this season. Frederick became just the eighth D-I player this season to have a game with 11+ assists and 0 turnovers. Then, on Saturday against conference-leading Illinois State, Frederick nearly posted another double-double, finishing with nine points and nine assists. Frederick leads the MVC in assists/game by 1.1 assists over second place, on pace to pace the conference in the category for a second straight season.
Caroline Waite (BU) - Waite continues to lead all Missouri Valley Conference underclassmen in scoring and added to her norm by pumping in 33 points during Bradley’s two-game swing through the Chicagoland last week … In Thursday’s game at Valparaiso, Waite drained six 3-pointers, finishing with 20 points for her third consecutive game scoring at least 20 … Waite followed with 13 points, three rebounds and two steals Saturday at Loyola Chicago.
Katie Dinnebier (DU) - Dinnebier lead the Bulldogs with 14 points against SIU. In her 27 minutes on the floor, she grabbed five rebounds and one steal. She went 8-8 from the free throw line. Against Missouri State she also played 27 minutes, but added five rebounds, two assists, two steals, and seven points.
Mariah White (MSU) - Graduate transfer Mariah White was the third leading scorer for the Lady Bears last week with 11.5 ppg while also grabbing 4.0 rpg as Missouri State defeated both Drake and UNI. White led the Lady Bears with six steals, in addition to shooting 83 percent (5-for-6) from the free throw line and dishing out seven assists. On Friday night, White was the second leading scorer for MSU with 12 points. White also grabbed four rebounds, had four assists and went 4-for-5 from the free throw line, two shots of which ultimately served as the game winners for the Lady Bears over the Bulldogs. Against UNI on Sunday, White turned in her second double-digit performance of the weekend with 11 points in addition to pulling down four rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Olivia Brown (VU) - Brown averaged 6.5 points/game on 66.7% shooting from the field last weekend. The junior posted four points, four rebounds and four assists in the Beacons’ win over Bradley. She followed with an efficient nine-point effort against conference-leading Illinois State, shooting 4-of-6 from the floor.