Albany’s Maree Jones (Albany, N.Y./Albany) and Matea Pender (Sibenik Croatia/Croatian National Team) of UMBC share this week’s Wilson Player of the Week honor, while for the second-consecutive week, Boston University’s Corinne Jean (Victoriaville, Quebec/College Montemorency) and Shaleyse Smallwood (Boston, Mass./O’Bryant) of Northeastern split America East’s Rookie of the Week award.
Jones registered two strong performances in the Northern Arizona Thanksgiving Tournament. She led the team with 15 points, one rebound, two assists and one steal against the host Lumberjacks in the first round. Jones connected on 3-of-4 three-pointers in the opening loss. Prior to Friday’s game, she had only three career three’s. She followed that with a career-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting against Air Force. Jones also grabbed five rebounds, made four steals and dished two assists. She earned all-tournament honors for her performance. In addition to her offensive showing, Jones was responsible for guarding the best offensive player from each team.
Pender produced her second-straight 20-point performance with a 25-point effort against Morgan State last week, scoring 20 of those points in the first half as UMBC produced a 50-point first half. Pender went 9-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from three point range at Morgan State. Pender over the last two games is averaging 22.5 ppg and 3.0 rpg with three steals and two assists. On the season Pender is shooting 65.6 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three-point range with 18.0 ppg.
Jean scored a team-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field in the Terriers’ 83-66 win over Long Island. She also contributed five rebounds, four assists, and one steal against the Blackbirds. Jean posted 12 points, four rebounds, and one blocked shot in Boston U.’s 66-44 win over Wagner. On the season, Jean leads the team in scoring with 15.5 points per game.
Smallwood led the Huskies with a career-high 21 points against Weber State. The freshman guard was 9-of-16 against the Wildcats and recorded four steals and three rebounds in 39 minutes of play. Smallwood recorded double-digits again in Northeastern’s win over IUPUI with 12. The Boston, Mass. native pulled down two rebounds and dished out three assists against the Jaguars and was named to the Loyola Marymount Marriot Marina Del Rey Thanksgiving Tournament All-Tournament team. Smallwoood has posted double-digits in every game this season and leads the team with 14.3 points per game. The rookie is tied on the team with 11 steals and is third on the team with eight assists.