Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Players of the Week Honors
Player of the week:
Tuti Jones, R-Jr., G, Belmont (Troy, Ala./Charles Henderson HS)
Redshirt junior guard Tuti Jones had quite the Saturday afternoon in Normal, Illinois, reaching 1,000 career points, scoring a season-high 25 and knocking down the game winner from distance. A perfect 7-for-7 from beyond the arc, Jones hit a deep wing three-pointer with three seconds left to lift Belmont over host Illinois State. Her game-winning triple was the third of three clutch three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Jones finished 9-for-17 from the field and added five rebounds, four assists and two steals against the Redbirds. With her second trey at the 6:09 mark of the opening quarter, Jones became the Bruins’ 35th 1,000-point scorer. Jones’ outstanding Sunday performance came on the heels of tallying 16 points, four steals, four assists and three boards Thursday evening in a 77-72 comeback road victory at Bradley. For the week, Jones averaged 20.5 points on 48.3 percent (14-of-29) shooting, 4.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals. She went a remarkable 9-for-11 from outside and was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line.
:
Lacy Stokes, Jr., G, Missouri State
Lacy Stokes continued her great campaign in her first year at Missouri State, averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 assists, 4.5 steals and 2.0 rebounds per game in a weekend split at UIC and Valparaiso. She also shot .480 (12-25) from the field and .800 from the free throw line (8-10) across the two games while playing 39.2 minutes per game. On Thursday night at UIC, Stokes scored 11 points in addition to tallying a team-high five steals and dishing out three assists. In Saturday’s win at Valparaiso, Stokes scored a game-high 22 points (7-for-12 FG, 7-for-8 FT) in addition to dishing out a game-high seven assists and collecting a game-high four steals while never leaving the floor. Stokes’ performance against Valparaiso marked her third 20-point outing of the season and is her second such outing in the last three games. She has three consecutive games with at least four steals and now owns 13 games this season with five or more assists.
Freshman of the Week:
Haven Ford, Guard, Morehead, Ky.
Haven Ford made 38 points to average 19 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Ford made 19 points at Illinois State and Bradley. Only behind Katelyn Young for the Racers. Ford went 19-19 on the free-throw line through the weekend against the Redbirds and Braves.