Binghamton’s Rachel Laws (Wyncote, Pa./Cheltenham) and Matea Pender (Sibenik, Croatia/Croatian National Team) of UMBC share the Wilson Player of the Week award, while Northeastern’s Shaleyse Smallwood (Boston, Mass./O’Bryant) wins her fourth-straight Rookie of the Week accolade. The awards were announced on Monday (December 13).
Laws was unstoppable on the week for the Bearcats as she averaged 25.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game, against a pair of teams with a current combined record of 12-3. She turned in a 21-point, 13-rebound, four-steal performance in Binghamton’s game against undefeated St. John’s and then followed up with a career-high 29-point, 11-rebound, two-assist, two-block, three-steal masterpiece at La Salle.
Pender had a stellar week for the Retrievers, dropping double-digits in three-consecutive games to up her streak to six-straight double-digit performances and scored her third and fourth 20-plus point performances of the year. Pender on the week shot 58.3 percent from the floor (21-of-36) and an outstanding 72.2 percent from three-point range (13-of-18). Against Lafayette she tallied a career-high six made three-point baskets (6-of-8), netting 22-points, and followed that up going 5-of-6 from behind the arc two nights later against American as she led UMBC by tying her season-high of 25-points.
Smallwood continued her seven-game double-digit scoring streak with 17 points in NU’s lone game of the week at Harvard. In her first collegiate start, Smallwood grabbed a career-high five rebounds and dished out three assists in a career-high 42 minutes of play. The rookie guard was 5-of-18 from the floor, 2-of-4 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Smallwood, the winner of at least a share of all four Rookie of the Week awards this season, continues to lead the team with 14.4 points per game on the season.