Northern Kentucky University’s Cassie Brannen (Cincinnati, Ohio) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. The senior center paced the Norse in three wins last week, including a victory over 22nd-ranked Carson-Newman in the Travel America Classic on Saturday.
Brannen opened the week with a 16-point effort in NKU’s 67-50 win over visiting Georgetown (Ky.) on Wednesday. She was 5-for-6 (.833) from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Brannen also pulled down six rebounds and had three blocked shots and an assist.
The Norse grabbed a pair of victories at the Travel America Classic over the weekend. Brannen was instrumental in the team’s success and earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
In NKU’s 62-51 win over UNC-Pembroke on Friday, Brannen posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. She narrowly missed recording a triple-double as she also posted nine blocked shots, two assists and a pair of steals.
She capped the week with 12 points, six rebounds, five blocked shots and an assist in her team’s 67-51 victory over Carson-Newman.
For the week, Brannen tallied 46 points (15.3 ppg), 23 rebounds (7.7 rpg), 17 blocks (5.7 bpg) and four assists (1.3 apg). She shot 57.7 percent from the field and finished 15-for-18 (.833) from the free throw line.
Brannen is averaging 12.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this season for the Norse. She also leads the GLVC with 3.3 blocked shots per game.
Northern Kentucky, the top-ranked program in the latest USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Poll, is undefeated this season at 7-0. The Norse, 1-0 in the GLVC, will next visit West Virginia Wesleyan on Dec. 22.
Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Drury’s Melanie Oliver, Indianapolis’ Sarah Fenneman, Kentucky Wesleyan’s Whitney Waddell, Missouri-St. Louis’ Kiki Robinson, Rockhurst’s Amy Hake and UW-Parkside’s Amanda Gibson.