ST. LOUIS – Senior Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) of the Drake University women's basketball team has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the period of Jan. 2-8, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
                                                  
Wendell, the MVC Preseason Player of the Year, continued her outstanding play this season in leading Drake to wins over Evansville and SIU this weekend as the Bulldogs improved to 4-0 in MVC play. She averaged 23.5 points, 3.5 assists, 3.0 steals, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 block per game while shooting 59.3 percent from the floor.
 
Against Evansville, Wendell poured in a game-high 23 points on a blistering 10-of-14 shooting performance to go along with five rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block in 29 minutes. In the win over SIU, she again led all scorers, this time with 24 points and added three steals, two assists and one block in 26 minutes.
 
Wendell, who is averaging 22.3 points per game and has led the league in scoring all season, is now second in the MVC in field goal percentage at 53.9. She is also averaging 4.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists (4th, MVC) and 3.0 steals (2nd, MVC) per game. Wendell has scored 20 or more in a game in six of the past eight games and 57 times in her outstanding career.
 
This is Wendell's 11^th career MVC Player of the Week award and second this season after winning the award on Nov. 14. Her 11 MVC Player of the Week honors is tied for second all-time in Valley history (Kristi Cirone, Illinois State) trailing only Jackie Stiles of Missouri State (18). Fellow senior Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) won Drake's other MVC Player of the Week award this season on Dec. 19.
 
Drake returns to the road on Jan. 13 at Bradley with a 7 p.m. tipoff in Peoria, Ill. The contest will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3 and on the radio on ESPN Des Moines 1350-AM.