ST LOUIS – For the second time this season DeAnna Wilson has earned MVC Player of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday.
Wilson brought home her second MVC Player of the Week award in the last three weeks, after earning the honor Jan. 3. It's the fifth time in her career Wilson has been named MVC Player of the Week. It also marks the second time she has earned multiple Valley Player of the Week honors in the same season, which she is the first Redbird in the Kristen Gillespie era to do. Wilson tied for the most MVC Player of the Week honors (3) in 2021-2022.
It is the fourth time under Gillespie that a Redbird has earned MVC Player of the Week multiple times in the same season, joining Simone Goods (twice, 2018-2019), JuJu Redmon (three times, 2021-2022) and Wilson (three times, 2021-2022).
Wilson averaged 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 blocks leading Illinois State to wins over Southern Illinois and Missouri State last week. She scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Redbirds handed Missouri State its first MVC loss of the season and snapped their 7-game win streak Sunday. Wilson hit a career-high 14 free throws, going 14-for-16 from the line in the win. To open the week, Wilson put up 14 points and 7 rebounds in a dominating win over the Salukis.
The performance against Missouri State tied her career-high in scoring, which she has done twice in MVC play, and was her fourth double-double of the season. It was also her fourth 20-plus point game this season. The double-double was the 22nd of her Redbird career, which moved her into sole possession of fourth place in program history for career double-doubles.
She has scored in double figures in six of Illinois State's last seven games, with four of those performances being 15-plus point efforts. Since the start of Valley play, Wilson is averaging 17.0 points (3rd in the MVC) and 6.6 rebounds (7th in MVC) per game.
The Redbirds (10-5, 3-2 MVC) hit the road for a pair of MVC contests at Valparaiso Friday and UIC Sunday this week.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
