ST. LOUIS – Graduate student guard Paige Robinson has been named both the Missouri Valley Conference Player and Newcomer of the Week as announced by the league office Monday afternoon, following a pair of standout home performances for the Redbirds against St. Thomas and Wisconsin last week.
Robinson was lights out in a pair of Redbird wins this week, averaging 30.0 points/game, 4.0 rebounds/game, 2.5 assists/game, and 4.0 threes/game against St. Thomas (W, 71-56) on Tuesday and Wisconsin (W, 62-57) on Sunday. Against the Tommies, Robinson finished with a game high 23 points in her Redbird home debut, while adding four assists, two blocks, and two rebounds.
Then, on Sunday against the Badgers, the Bethany, Ill. Native seemed quite unstoppable as she went for a game-high 37 points (14-19 FG), including a perfect 7-7 from the three-point line. Per Her Hoop Stats and Calvin Wetzel, Robinson became the first player in NCAA Division I since 2018 (Delaney Hodgins of Eastern Washington) to score 37+ points and go a perfect 7-7 from behind the arc as she is only the third player to achieve this stat line and do so since 2009-10 (when data was first collected). So far in 2022-23, no other player in DI has gone 7-7 from three and no athlete has done better since 2018 (per Calvin Wetzel).
Robinson's 37 points against Wisconsin marks the first time a Redbird has scored 37 in a game since JuJu Redmond did so against Valparaiso in February 2022… With her 14 field goals against the Badgers, Robinson also became the first Redbird with 10 made field goals in a game since JuJu Redmond did so against Iowa in last year's March Madness.
This is the first Player and Newcomer of the Week accolade for Robinson as a Redbird, and first POTW honor since being named GLVC Player of the Week for Drury in November 2021. This also marks the first Newcomer and Player of the Week honors for ISU since DeAnna Wilson was named MVC Player of the Week in March of 2022 prior to the start of the Hoops in the Heartland Tournament and Newcomer of the Week in March 2021.
2022-23 MVC Players of the Week
Nov. 14 – Destinee Wells, Belmont
Nov. 21 – Paige Robinson, Illinois State
2022-23 MVC Newcomers of the Week
Nov. 14 – Josie Filer, UIC
Nov. 21 – Paige Robinson, Illinois State
UP NEXT
The Redbirds head to Las Vegas to take part in the UNLV Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 25-27 alongside a bevy of NCAA Tournament teams last season. The action gets underway for ISU on Friday, Nov. 25 against the UC San Diego Tritons at 8:30 pm CT from the Thomas & Mack Center.
For all latest on Illinois State women's basketball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team at @RedbirdWBB (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
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