Belmont's Madison Bartley averaged 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting 51.4% from the field in a pair of wins over Murray State and Bradley. The award is the second MVC Player of the Week honor of her career.
Missouri State transfer Kennedy Taylor averaged 15.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, while shooting 56.0% from the field as the Lady Bears beat Southern Illinois and UIC, earning her third Newcomer of the Week honor.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Madison Bartley, Jr., F, Belmont
Junior forward Madison Bartley was once again a force to be reckoned with last week, leading the Bruins to another pair of dominant victories. She led all scorers in both of Belmont’s wins over Murray State and Bradley, averaging 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 51.4 percent (18-of-35) from the field. In the Bruins’ 64-54 home triumph over the Racers last Thursday, Bartley scored 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Of Bartley’s 19 points, 11 came in the third quarter as she distributed three assists and came up with a pair of blocks and a steal. In Belmont’s dominant 68-54 road victory at Bradley Sunday afternoon, Bartley recorded her second double-double of the season and third of her career with 22 points and a game-high 12 boards. Going 10-for-20 from the floor, Bartley scored 13 of her 22 points in the first half and added a block and an assist. Of Bartley’s 17 rebounds on the week, 10 were earned on the offensive glass.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Kennedy Taylor, So., F, Missouri State
Transfer Kennedy Taylor led the way for Missouri State as the Lady Bears picked up two wins last week against SIU and UIC to extend their win streak to five. Taylor averaged 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two victories, while dishing out seven total assists and shooting 56 percent (14-for-25) from the field. In Wednesday night’s win at SIU, Taylor scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, and collected an assist and steal in 18 minutes of work against the Salukis. On Saturday afternoon against UIC, Taylor exploded for a career-high 25 points, six assists and 12 field goals, while tying her career mark of 15 rebounds. With her performance, she becomes the only player in Division I to reach all three of those marks in a game this season. She took over in the second half as Missouri State mounted a come-from-behind win, scoring 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field and grabbing eight rebounds in the final 20 minutes. With eight offensive boards against the Flames and 10 on the week, Taylor continues to lead the Valley and ranks 18th nationally with 3.9 offensive rebounds per game.
Noteworthy - In addition to the league's player and newcomer of the week selections, several conference players had notable performances, and they include:
Maggie Bair (DU) - Senior forward Maggie Bair was lights out for Drake in two Missouri Valley Conference games last week. Bair put up back-to-back double-doubles in as many games, reaching seven for the season and 15 for her career. She averaged 17.5 points and 10 rebounds in games at UNI (2/1) and against Evansville (2/4). The Glen Ellyn, Ill. native started the week with a 12-point, 10-rebound performance in the Bulldogs’ loss at UNI. She followed that excellent showing with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, her second-highest scoring output of the year, and another 10 rebounds in a get-right win over Evansville in the Knapp Center. Bair now leads the Bulldogs in both categories with 16.1 ppg and 8.2 rpg, both in the top five of the MVC. She also leads The Valley and ranks seventh nationally with a .618 field goal percentage.
Abby Feit (UE) - In another split of MVC contests, senior guard/forward Abby Feit turned in a pair of consistent performances to help power the Aces. On the week, Feit averaged 15.5 points and eight boards. The highlight of the week came in Evansville’s 68-66 win over Indiana State on Wednesday as Feit notched her fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 boards.
Jaida McCloud (UIC) - As the Flames spilt their road-trip between a win at Valparaiso (55-53) and in defeat against Missouri State (68-57), McCloud hit her offensive stride. The junior averaged 18 points and six and a half rebounds over the past week. In their game against the Bears, McCloud scored 16 of her 17 points all in the first half.
DeAnna Wilson (ILS) - Wilson averaged 14.5 points per game for Illinois State as the Redbirds went 2-0 with a pair of home wins over rival Bradley on Thursday before taking the lone regular season meeting with MVC newcomer, Murray State, on Sunday … She made 14-of-27 shots for the week (51.9%), while averaging 10.5 rebounds on the week with two blocks to gather her 6th and 7th double double performances in 2022-23 for the Redbirds… Against the Braves she scored 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field, 1-of-1 from the charity stripe, one block, one steal, and 10 rebounds over 22 minutes on the court … In the finale of the week against Murray State, Wilson went for 16 points off 8-of-10 shooting from the field, adding a block and 11 rebounds over her 29 minutes of action in ISU’s win over the Racers.
Maya McDermott (UNI) - It was another stellar week for McDermott as she made the winning shot against Drake and helped the Panthers in a dominating 91-51 win over Indiana State. It was almost like deja vu for McDermott in Wednesday night’s game against the Bulldogs. She put up a long-range teardrop floater from the right side of the lane as time was expiring with the game tied. McDermott’s shot was right on target, keeping UNI from going to overtime and sealing the Panthers first series sweep of Drake since 2016. The shot also got national media attention appearing on SportsCenter’s Top 10 and Scott Van Pelt’s “Best Thing I Saw Today” segment. For the week, McDermott averaged 12 points, 3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.5 steals.
Paige Robinson (ILS) - Robinson averaged 18.5 points per game for Illinois State as the Redbirds went 2-0 with wins over rival Bradley Thursday before taking their lone regular season meeting with Murray State on Sunday from Normal … She made 16-of-34 shots for the week (47.1%), and was 4-of-8 (50.0%) from long range … She averaged six and a half rebounds on the week with six assists and four blocks … Against the Braves she scored 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field while grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out three assists, and collecting two blocks while playing 25 minutes … In the finale of the week against Murray State, she scored a game-high 24 points, converting on 10-of-22 shots from the field, 3-of-4 from long range and 1-of-2 from the free throw stripe … She also had three assists, two blocks, and five rebounds in ISU’s win over Murray State.
Rachael Heittola (UNI) - Heittola had her best game in a Panther uniform this past weekend against Indiana State. The junior transfer put up a season-high 14 points against the Sycamores and tied her career-high in three pointers made with 3 treys on the afternoon. Heittola also added five rebounds and one assist in UNI’s blowout win of Indiana State. In two games this week Heittola averaged 13 minutes, 7 points, and 2.5 rebounds.
Promise Taylor (SIU) - Mississippi State transfer Promise Taylor had a Valley season-high 19 points versus Valparaiso on Saturday, plus seven rebounds and five blocked shots. For the week, she averaged 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks in a loss to to Missouri State and win over Valpo. She converted 10-of-13 shots from the field.