Women's Basketball

MVC Women's Basketball Weekly Notebook (Feb. 23)

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference announced its women's basketball weekly honors on Monday. Illinois State's Doneelah Washington has been named the MVC Player of the Week while UIC's Jessica Carrothers has been tabbed the MVC Newcomer of the Week. The MVC Freshman of the Week is Evansville's Jelena Savic. 

Conference News & Notes
  • With a pair of wins over the weekend, Murray State moved to 15-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. 
  • Belmont and Bradley have 12 wins apiece and are currently second and third in the league standings, respectively. 
  • Illinois State is 10-6 in MVC play, while UNI (9-7) and UIC (8-8) round out the top half of the standings.
  • Murray State needs two more wins to break the program record in single-season victories, set last year. The Racers are currently 24-3 overall with the nation’s seventh-best winning percentage (.889).
  • With their win over Belmont on Sunday, the Braves are just one victory away from tying the program record for Conference wins. Bradley reached 13 MVC wins during the 2019-20 season, finishing with an overall record of 22-7 and 13-5 ledger in league play that season. 
  • The Valley’s top 10 leading scorers are all averaging at least 15.0 points per game this season, led by Murray State’s Halli Poock. The junior guard is averaging 21.4 per contest, which is the 14th-best scoring output in Division I. Seven different institutions are represented among the MVC’s highest scorers this season.
  • UIC earned a hard-fought 69-61 win at Drake on Sunday behind Julia Coleman and Jessica Carrothers’ 20-plus point performances. It marked just the second win by the Flames over the Bulldogs since joining The Valley and the first victory inn program history in Des Moines.
  • Halli Poock exploded for a game-high 31 points to propel Murray State to a 73-62 comeback win over Illinois State on Sunday. The junior guard’s performance marked her fifth 30-plus point game of the season - the most of any player in the MVC. 
  • Evansville completed the regular-season sweep of UNI with a 64-63 overtime win on Saturday. It marked the first time since the 2007-08 campaign that the Purple Aces pulled off the season sweep of the Panthers. 
  • Indiana State registered its sixth game with 40-plus bench points in Saturday’s win over UIC, owning a 44-9 advantage in bench scoring. The Sycamores are third in Division I in bench points per game (31.7) behind LSU (39.7) and Louisville (35.4).
  • UNI’s Ryley Goebel is sixth in the nation with 71 blocks this year. The senior currently ranks fourth in program history for blocks in a single season and is fourth in MVC history for her career with 233.
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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: DONEELAH WASHINGTON, ILLINOIS STATE
Sophomore | Forward | Lincoln, Neb. | Lincoln Northeast HS
22.5 PPG | 59% FG  | 19 FGM | 11.0 RPG 
Another week, two more stellar performances for Illinois State sophomore forward Doneelah Washington this time against the top two teams in the Valley standings. For the week, she averaged 22.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest, while adding three assists and two blocked shots. She shot .593 from the field (16-for-27), was 2-for-3 from three-point range and was 11-for-13 from the charity stripe. In Friday night’s overtime win against Belmont, Washington scored a career-high 31 points and brought down 12 rebounds to record her ninth double-double of the season. It also marked the first 30+ point, 10+ rebound effort for the Redbirds since 2012 when Jamie Russell achieved the feat. She followed that up with her 10th double-double of the year, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against top-ranked Murray State on Sunday. She is one of just two players in the league ranked in the top 6 in scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (9.0) along with Murray State’s Sharnecce Currie-Jelks.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK: JESSICA CARROTHERS, UIC
Senior | Guard | Highland, Ind. | IU Northwest/Butler
22 PPG | 68% FG | 19 FGM | 4.5 APG
UIC’s Jessica Carrothers propelled the Flames to a pair of wins last week. She averaged 22 points on 68% shooting from the floor, while adding 4.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per outing. She started the week with 24 points, six assists and three rebounds against the Sycamores. Carrothers wrapped up the week with a 20-point performance at Drake. The guard, who currently ranks third in The Valley in scoring at 18.3 points per game, has tallied four-straight 20-plus point outings.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: JELENA SAVIC, EVANSVILLE
Freshman | Guard/Forward | Melbourne, Australia | Kurunjang Secondary
14 PTS | 50% FG | 50% 3PT | 7 REB
In Evansville’s lone game of the week, rookie Jelena Savic came up big as the Purple Aces completed the regular-season sweep of the UNI Panthers. Savic matched a career-high with 14 points while adding seven rebounds. She also matched a career-best with four-made 3-pointers. Savic is the fourth freshman this season in The Valley with multiple games with at least four-made treys.