Kennedy's home debuts leads to Heart weekly honor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In a week that saw the Clarke University women's basketball team play their first two home games, junior Zoe Kennedy was able to perform at a level that earned the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native her first Heart of America Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week of 2025-26 and the second of her career.

Kennedy, over a pair of Pride wins against Trinity Christian College and Waldorf University, was able to average 25.5 points per game while shooting over 50 percent from both the field (58.1%) and three point range (56.3) as she went 18-for-31 from the field and 9-for-16 from deep while also going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Her week's averages in non-scoring categories included grabbing 6.0 rebounds per game, dishing out 5.0 assists per game, and 1.5 steals per game in the 65 total minutes over the two games played.

In CU's 76-43 win over the Trolls last Tuesday, Kennedy played a season-low 25 minutes but still scored a game-high 17 points with all five of her makes from the field coming from a 5-for-8 (62.5%) night from beyond the arc while she was still able to produce five rebounds, five assists, and a steal in her lower minutes workload.

Two days later, a full 40-minute game was needed from Kennedy to help Clarke overcome a slow offensive start to earn a 73-63 win over the Warriors as she came two points shy of her career-high with a 34-point game on Thursday night while going 13-for-21 (61.9%) from the field and 4-for-8 (50%) from three point range while grabbing seven rebounds and having another five-assist game to also produce two steals and a blocked shot defensively.

Through four games to start the 2025-26 season, the regining All-Heart First Team selection is leading the Pride in point per game (21.0), rebounds per game (8.8), assists per game (5.5), steals per game (1.5), and blocks per game (0.5) after her 2024-25 season produced the high scoring average by a Clarke women's basketball player since the 2000-01 season.

Full Heart Release: https://heartofamericaconference.com/sports/wbkb/2025-26/releases/20251110iww3vz

Kennedy and the Pride will play on the road for their two games this week, starting with a non-conference matchup against Morningside University on Tuesday, Nov. 11 with a 6:00 p.m. CT scheduled opening tip in Sioux City, Iowa.