Bigs Getting Their Due

MVC Week 15 Honors

(St. Louis, MO) – In a guard driven conference, this week the bigs are getting their due. Every player being honored this week plays primarily in the frontcourt and demonstrated the value of bigs in the Valley.

These frontcourt stars did damage in the paint and at crunch time.

Players of the Week

Drake’s Darnell Brodie had a big week for the second place Bulldogs. Brodie averaged 18.5 points and eight rebounds to spark two Bulldog wins, but it was when he scored those points that really mattered. During the closing moments of Drake’s Saturday win over Bradley the 6’10 center scored his team’s final 13 points.

The ‘Player of the Week’ honor is Brodie’s second of the season and he joins teammate Tucker DeVries as a two-time recipient of this weekly award. Brodie leads the Valley averaging 8.6 rebounds per game.

Grace Boffeli is rounding into form. The preseason ‘Player of the Year’ battled early season injuries and is back to her dominating ways. Her back-to-back double-doubles sparked Northern Iowa to a pair of victories and put her back in the all-conference conversation. This is Boffeli’s second ‘Player of the Week’ nod. She claimed the award during the season’s second week.

Newcomers Getting Their Due

Belmont’s Malik Dia continues to impress. The Belmont big man had games of 25 and 15 points as the Bruins swept last week’s two games. Dia’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award is his third and the 6’9 sophomore is fourth in the MVC’s scoring race (17.8 ppg).

Averaging 18 points and nine rebounds during two weekend wins earned UIC’s Keimari Rimmer her third ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award. The DePaul transfer recorded a double-double on Friday and another 16 points and eight boards on Sunday. Teammate Makiyah Williams claimed the award during the season’s second week.

Rookie Winners

Cooper Schwieger has wrapped up an end-of-season ‘all-freshman’ team spot. The only question is whether he or Evansville’s Chuck Bailey III will earn the top rookie spot. Schwieger averaged 16.5 points during Valpo’s two contests and is the Valley’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ for a fourth time. Bailey also has four weekly awards and Drake’s Kevin Overton has three.

Evansville is finally getting its due by earning its first conference win of the season. Freshman Nevaeh Thomas racked up two, double-doubles as the Purple Aces claimed their first Valley win. During that breakthrough victory, Thomas scored 23 points and hauled in a career-high 14 rebounds. This week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ is the second Evansville player to be so honored. Rookie Maggie Hartwig won the award twice.

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