Nicole McDermott nabs Heart Player of the Week honor after efficient shooting

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - On one of her best scoring stretches of her career, Clarke University women's basketball sophomore Nicole McDermott earned her first career Player of the Week honor from the Heart of American Athletic Conference on Monday. 

McDermott scored a team-high 22 points last Thursday in a Heart win over Mount Mercy then scored 18 points on Saturday against No. 19 Saint Xavier. She only missed three total shots between the two games on 17 attempts to shoot 82.4 percent from the field combined on the week while going a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line.

In the 85-69 win over the Mustangs, McDermott complimented her 22 points with seven rebounds, two steals, and two assists as she went on to grab four rebounds and add an assist and a steal two days later in CU's 94-61 win over the Cougars.

With these last two games, it makes five-straigth games in double figures for the Cascade, Iowa native, one game away from matching her career-high of six-straight games in double figures that she set from Jan. 13 to Feb. 6 last season.

With her current success in scoring the ball, McDermott has lifted her points per game average to 12.1 so far on the season, good for third on the team, as her average converts to 17.9 points per 40 minutes played as she averages just 27 minutes per game.

McDermott is now the third different member of the Pride to earn Heart Women's Basketball Player of the Week after Emma Kelchen earned the honor on Nov. 1 and Taylor Haase earned the honor on Nov. 15.

Clarke women's basketball will be away from game action until Dec. 29-30 when they travel to Bellevue, Neb. for games against Bellevue University and Mayville State University.