Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Napier earns second MVC Player of the Week award
02/22/2016 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
ST. LOUIS - After leading the Salukis in scoring in back-to-back wins over Missouri State and Wichita State, Southern Illinois point guard Rishonda Napier has been named Player of the Week by the Missouri Valley Conference, the league announced Monday. Napier won the honor for the second time this season.
The Burbank, Calif., native averaged 26.5 points, 4.5 assists, 2.0 rebounds in two Southern Illinois wins, shooting 19-for-39 (48.7%) from the field and 9-for-14 (64.3%) from the 3-point range. Napier posted one of the top individual shooting performances in recent Saluki history on Sunday, as she made a career-high 11-of-20 attempts from the field, including 6-of-8 from beyond the arc to tie her career-high with 30 points in SIU's 80-66 win over Wichita State. The 5-foot-5 redshirt junior scored 24 of her 30 points in the second half, connecting on all six of her second half 3-point attempts. In Friday's win over Missouri State, Napier tallied 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting, to go along with six assists and three rebounds.
The returning All-MVC selection took over in the second half of each win, scoring a combined 38 second half points on 58.3% (14-of-24) shooting from the field, including an astounding 8-for-10 (80%) from 3-point territory.
Napier's 30-point performance against Wichita State marks just the third time this season a Valley player has reached the 30-point plateau.
The Salukis return to action on Thursday, Feb. 25 at Illinois State. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
