West named Big 5 Player of the Week

After two impressive wins for the Penn women's basketball team in the past week, it was time yesterday for one Quaker to get singled out in the form of individual accolades. Mandy West, the Quakers senior guard, was named Big 5 Player of the Week for her efforts over the past seven days. West scored a career-high 32 points on 10-for-20 shooting in Penn's 76-67 win against Towson on January 19. She followed that performance up with nine points and six assists in the Red and Blue's 79-62 victory over Lafayette on Monday night at the Palestra. All nine of West's points against the Leopards came in the second half. It took her a decent chunk of time to get going in the game after not practicing during the week due to an illness, but once she got into gear, there was no stopping her. The Quakers have now garnered three of the Big 5's six weekly awards this season. Diana Caramanico was named the city's top weekly performer on December 7 and January 4. West was named the Ancient Eight's Player of the Week on January 10 for her 30-point effort in Penn's 92-82 win at Princeton. West has now scored 30 or more points three times in her career. In addition to her performances against Towson and Princeton, she scored 31 last season at the Palestra in a game against Cornell. In just a season and a half at Penn, West has scored 788 points. If she averages 16.3 points per game for the rest of the season, West will be the 12th player in Penn history to score 1,000 career points. Her fellow tri-captain, Caramanico, is also on pace for a scoring milestone this season. Caramanico currently has 1,499 points in her career. She is 157 points away from Kirsten Brendel's Penn women's record and 328 away from Ernie Beck's all-time Penn career record. The 12.1 and 25.2 point per game averages that she needs, respectively, are both under her current season average of 25.7 points per game. Caramanico, who has been the Ivy League Player of the Week three times this season, is also on pace to shatter Penn's single-season scoring record. If she keeps up her current average, she will be the first man or woman in red and blue to score 700 or more points in a season.