Senior: Tylee Irwin of South Dakota State captures the Senior of the week this week. Irwin paced the Jackrabbits at a time they needed her most as the injury bug struck the team. Irwin averaged 28 points per game and added 3.5 rebounds per game over the weekend. Irwin will be counted on even more for the Jacks as they are likely without Myah Selland for the rest of the season.
Junior: Paige Bradford is our junior of the week this week. Bradford had an offensive explosion as the Roos split with Denver this weekend. Bradford averaged 19.5 points over the 2 game series and chipped in 6 rebounds, and on the defensive end averaged 3 blocks a game.
Sophomore: Denver’s Uju Ezeudu had the best weekend of any sophomore this week in the Summit League. On Friday, she went off for a career-high 32 points on 13-19 shooting, including 6-6 from the free-throw line in 29 minutes of play. She also added 6 rebounds and 2 steals to help the Pioneers (4-8, currently 6th in SL standings) defeat Kansas City (7-6, currently 4th in SL standings) 63-55. Of note, she scored the first 11 points of the game for Denver on Friday. She followed that performance with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and a steal on Saturday in a losing effort against Kansas City. Denver finishes the regular season at home this weekend against Omaha (3-7, currently 8th in SL standings).
Freshmen: It has been a youth movement for the Golden Eagles this season and so it should not be surprising that Oral Roberts players have consistently won the freshmen of the week awards throughout the season. There are 8 freshmen on the Golden Eagles roster, and one of those 8 freshmen has not been mentioned enough but wins the award this week. Faith Paramore is this week’s freshmen of the week. Paramore averaged 11.5 points per game this weekend against South Dakota. Not only that but Paramore added 4.5 rebounds in the two-game series.
Reserve: North Dakota sophomore Kacie Borowicz had a fantastic weekend against Omaha last week. Borowicz came off the bench for the Fighting Hawks and scored 14 points in 11 minutes against the Mavericks on Friday and 21 points on Saturday. Her 21-point performance was a season-high and she also knocked down all three of her 3-pointers in Saturday’s 75-72 loss to Omaha. The Roseau, Minn., native shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the floor in those two games and was 6-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Defense: We all know about what South Dakota can do on the offensive end of the floor but sometimes lost in the wins and the offensive numbers is the fact they can shut the opposing team down. Oral Roberts came to Vermillion with some confidence after battling nationally ranked South Dakota State close the weekend before, and the Yotes shut them down. USD held Oral Roberts to 54 points in both games this weekend and forced them into 27 turnovers.