Indiana State's Shannon Thomas led the Sycamores in a pair of home victories over Bradley and UNI last weekend, averaging a double-double of 18.5 points and 14.5 rebounds, while Illinois State's Jamie Russell averaged 14 points, four assists and three rebounds in the Redbirds' victories over visiting Bradley and UNI. For their outstanding efforts, Thomas and Russell have been named the Missouri Valley Conference Player and Newcomer of the Week, respectively. Russell has now earned the Valley's weekly Newcomer award for a league-high five times this season. 

STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Shannon Thomas, Sr., C, Indiana State
Thomas led Indiana State to a pair of home victories last weekend, posting double-doubles in each game. Thomas went for 24 points and 11 rebounds on Friday night against Bradley, knocking down nine of her 14 shots from the field while also picking up a pair of blocks. The ISU senior came back with 13 points, a season-high 18 rebounds and a career-high five assists on Sunday against UNI. For the weekend, Thomas averaged 18.5 points and 14.5 rebounds per game while shooting 62% (13-for-21) from the field and 73% (11-for-15) from the charity stripe.

STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Jamie Russell, Jr., G, Illinois State
Russell just missed a double-double in Illinois State’s 84-68 win Friday over UNI, making 17 points and bringing down eight rebounds in 30 minutes of play. She also recorded four steals and two blocks in the victory. Against Bradley, she netted 11 points and grabbed four rebounds, while dishing out six assists. Russell was perfect from the charity stripe, making all five free throw attempts. Over the weekend, the Rock Falls, Ill., native totaled 28 points for an average of 14 points per game. Russell also led the team with eight assists and five steals over two games. She averaged six rebounds per game and shot 46 percent from the field. On the season, Russell leads the Redbirds in assists (85) and steals (53) and is the second-leading scorer on the team with 12.1 points per game.

Noteworthy - In addition to the league's player and newcomer of the week selections, several conference players had notable performances, and they include:

MacKenzie Westcott (BU) - Westcott averaged 12.0 points on 55.6 percent shooting and also averaged 8.0 rebounds in a pair of road games last week.  She made 5-of-6 shots from the field and finished with 11 points, five rebounds, one block and one steal at Indiana State.  Westcott collected her sixth double-double of the season Sunday at I-74 rival Illinois State, tallying 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.  She also had two assists and one block in a career-high 38 minutes against the Redbirds.  

Sarah Nelson (CU) - Nelson put together consecutive career-highs last week, scoring more than half of Creighton’s points at Evansville and adding 25 points in CU’s highest scoring game of the year in an 80-64 win at Southern Illinois on Saturday.  Last Thursday, Nelson logged her team-leading eighth double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds at Evansville, making 9-of-16 shots from the field and all five of her free throw attempts.  She also led the team with four assists, making her part of 13 of CU’s 18 field goals in the game.  At Southern Illinois she topped her career-high for the second straight game, finishing with a team-high 25 points and a career-best six assists to lead the team as well.  She finished 8-of-14 from the floor and 9-of-12 at the line at SIU.  The sophomore led the team in scoring (24.0), rebounds (8.5) and assists (5.0) per game last week, while shooting 56.7 percent (17-30) from the field and 82.4 percent (14-17) at the charity stripe.

Rachael Hackbarth (DU) - Hackbarth scored 27 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, had two assists and six steals against Southern Illinois last Thursday.  Against Evansville yesterday she scored 18 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, had three assists and two steals in the win.  She has 18 double-doubles this season, which is second in the nation behind Kylie Kuhns of Sacramento State (19).

Meagan Collins (UE) - Collins piloted Evansville to a 48-45 win over Creighton, leading the Aces with 18 points, going 6-for-8 from the field, and grabbed seven rebounds. With 1:32 remaining in the game, Collins knocked down a three in the corner that gave UE a two-point lead, then secured the rebound on the other end and sealed the win with a free throw after Creighton was forced to foul. Against Drake, Collins had another solid performance with nine points and five rebounds. The Boonville, Ind. native muscled a shot between two defenders to give UE their first lead of the game with just under five minutes to go, but unfortunately the Bulldogs regained the lead and edged UE, 55-51. On the week, Collins averaged a team-best 13.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, shooting .500 percent (9-18) from the floor and .778 (7-9) from the free throw line.

Candace Sykes (ILS) - Sykes recorded her third double-double in four games in Illinois State’s win over Northern Iowa, 84-68, Friday at Redbird Arena. Sykes led all rebounders with 14 boards and netted 18 points in 32 minutes of play. In the Redbirds’ win over Bradley, 82-63, Sykes led all scorers with 20 points and brought down seven boards in only 21 minutes of play, due to foul trouble. The St. Anne, Ill., native shot 73 percent from the field in the game, going 8-of-11. For the weekend, Sykes was the second-leading scorer with 38 points, averaging to 19 points per game. She shot 54 percent from the field (13-of-24), hit 4-of-7 threes for a three-point field goal percentage of 57 and sank 8-of-9 free throws, helping the Redbirds move into a three-way tie for first place in the Valley. Sykes leads ISU in rebounds per game with 7.6 and with a three-point field goal percentage of 48 during the season.

Karly Buer (MSU) - Buer had career highs of 27 points and seven assists in Missouri State’s 85-67 victory over Wichita State Friday. The sophomore also made her first 13 free throws of the game and finished 15-for-16 at the line along with 5-of-11 from the floor and 2-for-2 from three-point range. She grabbed five rebounds and had just two turnovers. Buer’s streak of consecutive made free throws reached 30 before a miss late in the second half, and her 15 makes ranks third in MSU history for a single game, trailing only games of 16 and 17 makes by Jackie Stiles.

K.K. Armstrong (UNI) - Armstrong averaged 17 points, 7.5 rebounds, four assists and three steals over the Panthers’ two road games at Illinois State and Indiana State. Armstrong led UNI with 19 points and 7 rebounds against Illinois State, and again led the team with 8 rebounds at Indiana State on Sunday. She averaged 37 minutes per game and hit 15-of-18 free throw attempts.
 
Cartaesha Macklin (SIU) - Macklin averaged 19.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game for SIU as the Salukis split a pair of games last week. The freshman point guard paced the Salukis with 18 points to go along with four assists and a career-high five steals in a win Thursday against Drake before leading SIU with 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a loss to Crieghton Saturday. Macklin continues to lead all MVC newcomers in scoring and assists, ranking in the top five overall in the Valley in both categories. She is fifth in the MVC with an average of 16.3 points per game and third in assists at 3.8 per game.   

Jessica Diamond (WSU) - Diamond continued her pursuit of the 1,000-point club with her second-straight 20-point output Friday night at Missouri State.  The Houston, Texas native poured in 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and sinking both free throw attempts.  She canned 2-of-3 three-point efforts and also picked up a steal to add to her career-high season total.  Diamond now owns 926 career points, ranking just outside the Top 20 in WSU history.  She is the leading scorer for a Shockers team that is tied for first place in the MVC, putting up 13.2 points on .498 shooting.  She also tops the team in assists (60) and is shooting .837 from the free throw line.

Catie O’Leary (BU) - O’Leary averaged a team-best 13.0 points in two road games last week and also averaged 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks.  She had team highs of 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and a block at Indiana State as she matched her highest scoring output in a Missouri Valley Conference game.  O’Leary ended the week with nine points, two boards, one assist, two blocks and a steal at I-74 rival Illinois State.  

Natasha Zurek (INS) - Zurek turned in a pair of all-around performances in Indiana State’s pair of victories this weekend, averaging 5.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. On Friday against Bradley, the ISU freshman tallied four points, five rebounds and four assists. On Sunday against UNI, Zurek knocked down her only shot from the field and made all four of her free-throw attempts, finishing the game with six points, three rebounds and three assists.

Brooke Brown (UNI) - Brown averaged 5.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists over the Panthers’ two road contests with Illinois State and Indiana State. Brown scored eight points at Indiana State on Sunday, going 8-of-10 from the free throw line.