Pennington Wins League Laurel

Oskaloosa–Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) guided her team as only a senior can, and her efforts were recognized as she earned Heart of America Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week honors Monday.

Palmer picked up the first award of her career after guiding WPU (7-3, 5-2 Heart) to a perfect 3-0 record last week, including wins over two teams in the top 26 nationally.

The senior scored 20 points versus then-#19 Clarke last Monday, added an additional 10 against Graceland Thursday, and then scored a career-high 24 in a win over Evangel (which was unofficially #26) on Saturday. Her biggest basket came in the Evangel victory as she forced overtime with a buzzer-beating three-pointer.

For the week, Pennington averaged 18.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per outing. She shot 51.4% from the field, including a blistering 62.5% from behind the arc. The senior also knocked down each of her 13 free throws, highlighted by two at the end of the EU game to put the Statesmen up three.

The team leader in scoring at 13.4 points per game, Pennington, who is just 5-5, is also best in rebounding with 4.8 rebounds per contest. She is averaging 4.9 assists and has tallied 17 steals this season; both marks are team bests. The senior is shooting 48.9% from the floor (team-best 52.9% 3-PT) and is making a WPU-high 87.5% of her free throws.

The accolade is the first for the women’s program.