MVC Ninth Week Honorees

Big Performances Lead to Big Wins

(St. Louis, MO) – Welcome back Connor Hickman! He and other Missouri Valley Conference players put up big performances that led to big wins. The Valley’s ninth week honorees made big impact on their games and on the league standings.

Ninth Week Winning Streaks

Bradley’s Connor Hickman returned to the Braves’ lineup in spectacular fashion. The junior guard tallied 28 and 25 points in his first two games back to full-time action. Bradley (10-5) has won four straight games and Hickman is the Valley’s ‘Player of the Week’ and the first Brave to receive a weekly award.

Murray State has won nine straight games and sparking the Racers to last week’s two wins was sophomore Briley Pena. The Racer guard averaged 16.5 points per game and has raised her three-point shooting percentage to fifth nationally (50%). Ironically, Pena is just the second Racer to win any weekly award. This week’s ‘Player of the Week’ joins Zoe Stewart (Freshman award in week four) as Murray’s (10-2, 3-0) only two honorees.

Newcomer Awards

Malik Dia rejoined the Belmont starting lineup in a spectacular fashion. The 6’9 center scored 32 and 25 points as the Bruins split a pair of games. The Vanderbilt transfer is this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’ and has moved into fourth place in the Valley’s scoring race (18.1 ppg).

Missouri State has won six straight games and guard Lacy Stokes is a key cog in the Lady Bears’ machinery. She averaged 8.5 points and 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists during Missouri State’s games. This ninth week honor is Stokes’ fourth ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award.

Ninth Week Rookies

Freshman Nick Kramer joined the Missouri State rotation for the first time. The St. Louis native has fought through injuries to get active with the Bears. Last week he scored 10 points in his debut and followed that with six points in his second game.

Missouri State coach Dana Ford says this week’s ‘Freshman of the Week‘ brings valuable help to the Bears’ rotation.

“He’s worked tremendously hard to return to action,” said Ford. “He adds depth to our backcourt. He’s probably one of our better shooters. He competes really hard and is able go get fifty-fifty balls and make those hustle plays and things like that. So brings a lot of value to our team.”

Belmont rookie Jailyn Banks continues to stand out. Earning her fourth ‘Freshman of the Week‘ award, she sparked the Bruins to a pair of wins, recording consecutive 16-point performances. Belmont (10-4, 3-0) has won three straight games.

 

Editor: Cover photo credit Maevis Coulter