Marquette University Athletics
Willenborg Named C-USA Player Of The Week
1/31/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2000
CHICAGO - Conference USA today named Marquette women's basketball player Abbie Willenborg (Arlington Heights, Ill. / Hersey) as its women's basketball Player of the Week. Willenborg led the Golden Eagles to a pair of Conference USA victories this past weekend, as Marquette maintained a one-game lead in the league race.
The 6-2 center, one of Marquette's three co-captains this season, helped the Golden Eagles cruise to victories over National Division foes South Florida and Houston. She tallied game-highs of 20 points and eight boards to go along with three assists, three blocks, two steals and no turnovers in Marquette's 82-41 win over South Florida on Fri., Jan. 28. Willenborg also bottled up USF's Monica Echeverria in that contest, holding the Bulls' center to four points and six rebounds, well below her season averages of 16 points and 11 rebounds per game.
In Marquette's 66-38 victory over Houston on Sun., Jan. 30, Willenborg notched her eighth double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds and also had three steals, each of which were game-highs. She led the way for Marquette to establish two new C-USA records, as the Golden Eagles set new standards for single game rebounds in a C-USA contest (63) and most-ever single-game defensive rebounds (43) by a C-USA team.
Willenborg became C-USA's all-time leading rebounder against Dayton on Dec. 4. She became the third player in the history of the Marquette women's basketball program to reach the 1,000-point/1,000-rebound milestone after she surpassed 1,000 career rebounds against DePaul on Dec. 30. The senior joined MU alumnae Julie Sievers and Christine Kennedy, and now has 1,674 points and 1,080 rebounds. Against UAB on Jan. 20, Willenborg moved into third place among Marquette's all-time career scoring leaders. She is also third on the career rebounding list, needing 10 more rebounds to move into second place. She also is poised to become Marquette's all-time leader in free throws made and free throws attempted, needing 10 made free throws and two free throw attempts to take over the top spot in those respective categories.
Willenborg and the Golden Eagles are back in action on Thu., Feb. 3, when they open a crucial four-game road swing with a contest against Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss., at 7 p.m. (CT). Marquette concludes this week's action with a 4 p.m. contest in New Orleans, La., against Tulane. That game, which had originally been scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip-off, will be telecast nationally by espn2.
