Dyana Pierre named MVC Player of the Week
12/01/2014 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
ST. LOUIS -- Saluki junior Dyana Pierre has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week, the Valley announced Monday.
Pierre had a monster Thanksgiving weekend for SIU, scoring 17.3 points per game on 61.5 percent shooting (24-of-39) and grabbing 11.3 rebounds in Southern's three wins against Memphis (82-75), Southeast Missouri (78-62) and Mercer (67-52). Pierre was the focal point of the offense in Southern's current winning streak, where she has recorded two more double-doubles in the three-game stretch to push her current career total to 24 - one off cracking the top-10 all-time in Valley history. Against Memphis, Pierre was dominant inside where she scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. She narrowly missed another double-double against SEMO, when she scored nine points and grabbed nine boards. Against Mercer, the short lineup of the Bears had no match for Pierre, who scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. So far, Pierre ranks first in the MVC in rebounding by more than three rebounds per game (11.6), and also ranks third in field goal percentage (.550) and eighth in scoring (14.4 PPG). She has also taken sole possession of 12th place all-time in SIU history in rebounding with 622 career boards.
The Illinois Fighting Illini will make their first trek into Saluki Country since 1995 this Saturday, Dec. 6, to take on the Salukis. Southern is looking to top the Illini for the first time since 1993 and, in the process, match last year's win total and become 5-1 for the first time since 1991-92. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:05 p.m., and all tickets will be available for $1 each as part of a Pack the House promotion.
