Penn women's basketball freshman center Eleah Parker is the gift that keeps on giving in the holiday season, scoring 34 points in two games to earn her third straight Ivy League Rookie of the Week award.
Credit: Chase Sutton2017 is over, but at least one thing isn’t changing in the new year.
On Monday, Penn women’s basketball freshman center Eleah Parker was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the third straight week.
This most recent honor comes after Parker helped lead the Quakers to two victories to win gold in the NJIT Highlanders Christmas Tournament.
Against VCU on Thursday, Parker led the Red and Blue in scoring with a career-high 18 points on an efficient 8-for-11 shooting. She also hauled down five rebounds and swatted three shots in Penn’s 82-52 triumph.
The following day in the tournament’s championship game against NJIT, Parker and the rest of the team picked up right where they left off. She once again led Penn in scoring with 16 points — all in the first half — and also added nine boards and two blocks in the Quakers’ dominant 77-38 win.
After the successful week, Parker’s season averages now stand at just over six points and six rebounds per game, but her production and minutes have steadily grown as the season has worn on.
Courtesy of Penn Athletics
Parker still has quite a ways to go if she wants to match the Ivy League record of ten Rookie of the Week awards, but she wouldn’t be the first Quaker to approach such a record.
Former Penn women’s basketball player Diana Caramanico is one of three players to share the record, and 2017 graduate Sydney Stipanovich nearly matched that number as well with eight recognitions her freshman season.
Parker’s current frontcourt-mate senior Michelle Nwokedi is a good example for Parker to follow, as well. Nwokedi, the most recent Penn player to win Ivy Rookie of the Week before Parker, was honored six times her freshman season, including four in a row at one point.
It won’t get any easier for Parker with Ivy League play about to start, but if the first day of 2018 is any indication of what the rest of the season has in store for Parker, the new year should be a good one for the Red and Blue.
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