Female Scholar Athlete of the Week: Emily Pifer, Ohio (track and field)
Emily Pifer (distance, So., 3.94, journalism) in a field that included the reigning Big Ten champion Ohio State Buckeyes, Emily Pifer earned first place in the 3000m race at the 2012 Buckeye Classic in a time of 10:16.35. This finish was six seconds ahead of the nearest competitor and was one of two events in which the Bobcats claimed top honors. In addition to her success in the field of athletic competition, Pifer is also performing tremendously well in the classroom. The sophomore’s 3.94 grade-point-average ranks 14th among all Ohio University student-athletes.
The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during the week’s competition. The winners are selected by a group of the conference’s faculty athletic representatives.
Other Female Nominees:
Akron: Sina King (basketball, forward, So., 3.725, dietetics) continues to lead Akron, averaging 16 points in two Mid-American Conference games last week. She also pulled down 5.5 rebounds and dished out 2.0 assists for the week. In Akron’s overtime loss to Miami on Wednesday, King scored 15 points, hauled in 7 boards, and dished out a career-high four assists. She then scored 17 points in UA’s close defeat to Bowling Green on Saturday. She is a 3.725 student in her dietetics program.
Bowling Green: Chrissy Steffen (basketball, guard, Jr., 3.54, AYA secondary education) ledthe Falcons to a 5-0 record since the last reporting period. Averaged 16.6 points and 6.4 rebounds during that time, leading the team in scoring and ranking second in rebounding. Also averaged 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game, ranking second on the Falcons in both. She shot 40.0 percent from three-point range, going 16-of-40 from long distance. Steffen helped the Falcons to road wins over a pair of Mountain West Conference teams, with 15 points in a win at Wyoming and a then career-best 25 points in a victory at Colorado State. In that CSU game, Steffen carried the Falcons during the first half, and her well-rounded stat line included seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Steffen scored 16 first-half points in a span of nine minutes in that game. Her own personal 8-0 run, which came in a 92-second span midway through the period, gave the Falcons the lead for good. Then, she broke her newly-set career high, with 27 points in a win over Kent State to open MAC play. She shattered her previous career best by making six three-point field goals, and also had a career-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the year. This season, she has a team-leading 14.9 ppg along with 4.7 rpg. Steffen leads the team in scoring and is tied for third in rebounding. She also paces the Falcons in three-pointers made (29, 1.9 per game), assists (2.1 apg) and steals (2.1 spg). BGSU is 12-3 overall and 2-0 in MAC action, and the Falcons have won 12 of the last 13 games.
Eastern Michigan: Natachia Watkins (basketball, forward, So., 3.21, simulation, animation & gaming) turned in a 1-1 week by averaging 8.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals in 31.0 minutes of work as the Eagles opened MAC play. In the victory over Northern Illinois, Watkins poured in 13 points to go along with equaling a career-high with nine rebounds. She also had three steals in the contest. Earlier in the week at Ball State, she finished with four points and seven caroms.
Miami: Courtney Osborn (basketball, guard, Jr., 3.58, finance (minor: coaching)) had perhaps the greatest week for an individual player in Miami women’s basketball history. She finished with a 30.3 points per game average in three games, all victories. In the middle game of Miami’s three games on the week, Courtney put up a 48-point performance in an overtime win at Akron in the MAC opener on Wednesday. That set both a school and conference record for points in a game. It was the most points scored by any NCAA Division I women’s basketball player in nearly two years. During the game she was 14-for-25 from the field and 6-for-8 from behind the arc while hitting 14-of-17 free throws. In her other games this week, Courtney was also solid, leading the RedHawks with 20 points in a victory over Robert Morris on Monday. She also had six rebounds, three steals and five assists in the contest. She followed up the 48-point performance on Saturday with 23 points in a victory over Buffalo. She had six assists, five rebounds and three steals in that one. For the week Courtney was 27-for-59 from the field, including an incredible 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) from behind the arc, and was 25-of-29 from the charity stripe. She averaged 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game on the week and also had 2.3 steals per game.
Northern Illinois: Shonda Clore (gymnastics, bars/vault, Sr., 3.605, elementary education) opened up the Huskies’ 2012 gymnastics season with a strong performance Sunday against UIC. Clore, who hails from Grand Rapids, Mich., won the uneven bars with a final score of 9.800 to beat out teammate Natalie Sutter and the Flames’ Cynthia Lemieux-Guillen for top honors. The senior also tied for third place in the balance beam and took fifth in the vault.
Toledo: Carly Harter (swimming & diving, freestyle, Sr.,, 3.092, history) won the 200 freestyle and 200 IM against Ohio State with times of 1:49.72 and 2:03.30, respectively. She also place second in the 100 freestyle (51.75).
Western Michigan: Maria Iaquaniello (basketball, guard, R-Sr., 3.49, chemical engineering (minors: math, chemistry and biology))scored 15 points in WMU’s 70-67 win over defending WNIT and MAC regular season champion Toledo Thursday and pumped in 18 points in a 76-64 win over Ball State Sunday to average 16.5 ppg for the week. She also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists. With the wins, WMU won its first MAC season-opener since 2005-06 and improved to 2-0 in league play for the first time since 2003-04. After going 3-10 in non-conference play, the Broncos (5-10 overall, 2-0 MAC) are the only undefeated team in conference play in the MAC West, and lead the division. The Broncos' win over Toledo was its first since 2008, snapping a seven-game skid against the Rockets. Iaquaniello shot 11-for-25 (44.0%) from the field in the two games and went 10-for-11 from the free throw line (90.9%), making a perfect 8-for-8 vs. Ball State. She helped WMU overcome an 18-point first half deficit against Ball State, scoring 14 of her 18 points in the second half. After dropping the previous nine against the Cardinals, WMU has won the last two, also defeating BSU at the end of last year’s regular season. Iaquaniello is averaging a team-best 12.2 ppg for the season, after averaging just 2.8 ppg in her first three seasons combined. A redshirt senior Iaquaniello carries a heavy class-load, majoring in chemical engineering and minoring in three other areas, math, chemistry and biology.
Previous Female Winners:
Week 1 (Sept. 9) Kristen Lynn, Toledo (soccer)
Week 2 (Sept. 16) Brigit Reder, BSU (soccer)
Week 3 (Sept. 23) Paige Roback, EMU (volleyball)
Week 4 (Sept. 30) Rachel Iaquaniello, EMU (volleyball) and Nicole Gyurgyik, Toledo (soccer)
Week 5 (Oct. 7) Brigit Reder, BSU (soccer)
Week 6 (Oct. 14) Skylar Chew, BSU (soccer) and Bailey Brandon, CMU (soccer)
Week 7 (Oct. 21) Toye Famodu, Ohio (soccer)
Week 8 (Oct. 28) Kristin Hoffman, NIU (Volleyball)
Week 9 (Nov. 4) Carla Johl, KSU (field hockey)
Week 10 (Nov. 10) Maddy Eccleston, BGSU (tennis)
Week 11 (Nov. 17) Cassie Farrell, Miami (volleyball)
Week 12 (Nov. 26) Trisha Krewson, KSU (basketball)
Week 13 (Nov. 30) Juli Accurso, Ohio (cross country)
Week 14 (Dec. 7) Briana Emig, EMU (swimming & diving)
Week 15 (Dec. 14) Tenishia Benson, Ohio (basketball)
Week 16 (Dec. 22) Courtney Osborn, Miami (basketball)
Week 17 (Jan. 11) Emily Pifer, Ohio (track and field)