Owls' Val Named Player of the Week
Conference USA Women's Basketball Player of the Week
For the week ending November 11, 2007 --
Valeriya Berezhynska, Rice, 6'4, Senior, Center, Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Berezhynska led the Rice to a 3-0 weekend and the Winthrop Adidas Classic crown after averaging 26.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. She earned Tournament MVP honors, shooting 54.5 percent from the floor, in addition to a 72.7 clip from the foul line.
After sitting out the season-opener against Navy (with a sore ankle), Berezhynska returned to the lineup to score 22 points in 22 minutes of action against North Texas. Rice finished the second half by scoring 12 of the game’s final 14 points, after trailing 63-57 with 8:07 remaining. Playing with four fouls down the stretch, Berezhynska poured in eight points during that run.
The Ukraine native saved her best effort for the tournament finale and matched her career-high with 31 points against the host Eagles. She added 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double in her last eight outings dating back to last season. Rice fought back from a 47-37 deficit with 7:33 left in the second half. At 51-48 with 2:28 to go, Berezhynska hit two critical free throws along with clutch three-pointer on the right baseline with 20 seconds left to force overtime. Berezhynska added five of Rice’s 11 points in the overtime frame as the Owls emerged with a 63-54 triumph and started the season 3-0 for the second consecutive season under head coach Greg Williams.
“We’re pleased that Valeriya was able to earn this award,” head coach Greg Williams said. “She was a deserving candidate and put together two great performances in close games after entering the weekend questionable to play.”
“We limited Val’s minutes against North Texas because she hadn’t practiced for two weeks,” Williams said. “Before the game on Sunday, our trainer, Dawn Stuckey, told us she was good to go for as long as we needed her. She ended up playing 40 minutes. That’s a credit to her hard work she put in during the off season.”
Congrats to Val for earning the weekly honor. As I mentioned in this September blog post, Val has the ability to be one of the top players in Conference USA this season. Perhaps this honor is simply the start of a very big season for her.
For the week ending November 11, 2007 --
Valeriya Berezhynska, Rice, 6'4, Senior, Center, Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Berezhynska led the Rice to a 3-0 weekend and the Winthrop Adidas Classic crown after averaging 26.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. She earned Tournament MVP honors, shooting 54.5 percent from the floor, in addition to a 72.7 clip from the foul line.
After sitting out the season-opener against Navy (with a sore ankle), Berezhynska returned to the lineup to score 22 points in 22 minutes of action against North Texas. Rice finished the second half by scoring 12 of the game’s final 14 points, after trailing 63-57 with 8:07 remaining. Playing with four fouls down the stretch, Berezhynska poured in eight points during that run.
The Ukraine native saved her best effort for the tournament finale and matched her career-high with 31 points against the host Eagles. She added 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double in her last eight outings dating back to last season. Rice fought back from a 47-37 deficit with 7:33 left in the second half. At 51-48 with 2:28 to go, Berezhynska hit two critical free throws along with clutch three-pointer on the right baseline with 20 seconds left to force overtime. Berezhynska added five of Rice’s 11 points in the overtime frame as the Owls emerged with a 63-54 triumph and started the season 3-0 for the second consecutive season under head coach Greg Williams.
“We’re pleased that Valeriya was able to earn this award,” head coach Greg Williams said. “She was a deserving candidate and put together two great performances in close games after entering the weekend questionable to play.”
“We limited Val’s minutes against North Texas because she hadn’t practiced for two weeks,” Williams said. “Before the game on Sunday, our trainer, Dawn Stuckey, told us she was good to go for as long as we needed her. She ended up playing 40 minutes. That’s a credit to her hard work she put in during the off season.”
Congrats to Val for earning the weekly honor. As I mentioned in this September blog post, Val has the ability to be one of the top players in Conference USA this season. Perhaps this honor is simply the start of a very big season for her.
posted by Kris Gardner @ 3:04 PM
1 Comments:
At Wed Nov 14, 04:35:00 PM CST,
Anonymous said…
I hope this IS the start of a great season for Val and the Owls. I was really impressed with her play last year when Lauren Neaves was hurt. Go Owls!
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