Dinnebier & Runner Dominate
(St. Louis, MO) – Drake’s Katie Dinnebier and Evansville’s Camryn Runner are dominating the MVC’s final weekly stars list of 2024. While the Missouri Valley Conference announced its weekly honorees for both the women’s and men’s teams, the Ohio Valley Conference did not name weekly award winners.
Dinnebier and Runner are running away with their particular categories.
Players of the Week
Drake’s Dinnebier claimed her third straight and fourth overall ‘Player of the Week’ honor. The 5’8 senior scored 32 points during the Bulldogs’ victory over Evansville. She tacked on eight assists and six rebounds. The scoring explosion was her fourth 30-point performance this season. Dinnebier is the Valley’s second leading scorer (19.8 ppg) and tied as the nation’s top distributor, averaging 7.3 assists per contest.
Northern Iowa’s Tytan Anderson picked up his second straight double-double and his first ‘Player of the Week’ award. The 6’6 senior added four assists and moved into 36th on UNI’s all-time scoring list. He has started 78 straight games and recorded 1,048 points.
Newcomer Final Weekly Stars
Southern Illinois’ Gift Uchenna earned her second MVC ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award. All the 6’3 Uchenna did was score 21 points and grab 21 rebounds! While posting her third double-double of the season, Uchenna has solidified her national standing as the college basketball’s second leading rebounder (12.6 per game). She is averaging a double-double at 15.6 points per game on top of her gawdy rebounding numbers.
Illinois Chicago’s Sasa Ciani is a double-double machine himself. The 6’9 sophomore has recorded four of them so far and just missed his fifth on Sunday. During UIC’s win at Illinois State, the Xavier transfer scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds. The Valley’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’ is the second Flame to be recognized with a weekly award.
Top Rookies
Evansville’s Runner is now a five-time ‘Freshman of the Week’. During the Purple Aces’ loss to Dinnebier and the Bulldogs, Runner scored 14 points and claimed her third weekly award in December, after claiming two in November. Runner is third nationally in made free throws (113).
Southern Illinois’ Rolyns Aligbe made the most of his first collegiate start. The 6’9 freshman scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds. This week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ and red-shirt Drew Steffe are the only freshman to have participated in Saluki games this season.
Do Good
Editor: Cover photo of Camryn Runner courtesy of gopurpleaces.com.
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Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
