ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Junior Sonya Harris (Riverdale, Ill./Thornton) was named the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week and freshman Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) was selected as the State Farm MVC Newcomer of the Week announced by the league office Monday afternoon.
The duo helped Bradley climb into second place in the MVC regular-season standings with wins over then second-place Creighton (72-62) and Drake (63-55). The Braves posted their first ever regular-season series sweep against Creighton and BU is the first team to sweep Creighton and Drake in the same season since 2006-07.
Harris takes home MVC Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career after averaging 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game, while shooting 63.6 percent from the field last week. She opened the week with a dominating performance as she collected career highs of 23 points and six assists to go along with 14 rebounds, three assists and a steal in BU's win against Creighton.
Bradley trailed 33-30 at the intermission, before Harris took over in the second half, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the final 20 minutes of the Braves' victory against the Bluejays. She hauled down 10 offensive boards, marking the third best total in school history and most by a Bradley player since 2003 in addition to moving into 10th place on Bradley's career rebounding list.
Harris capped the week with 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals against Drake. After playing just five minutes of the first half because of early foul trouble, Harris played 15 minutes and collected nine points, three boards, two assists, two blocks and two steals in the second half to help Bradley rally for a 63-55 win.
Yohn averaged 13.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.0 steals last week to earn MVC Newcomer of the Week honors for the third time this season. She was 3-for-6 from beyond the arc in the win against Creighton and finished with 11 points, three assists and two steals. After a quiet first half, Yohn collected six points, three assists and two steals after halftime to help Bradley rally for the win.
Sunday against Drake, she scored 12 of BU's first 16 points and finished with a team-best 16 points. Yohn also had a season-high four steals against the Bulldogs to go along with five rebounds and two assists in the come-from-behind victory.
Bradley returns to action Thursday when the Braves face I-74 rival and league-leading Illinois State at 7:35 p.m. at Redbird Arena. The game will be broadcast in the Peoria area on 1290 AM WIRL and will be televised on WTVP.
