McDermott earns Pride women's basketball's first Heart Player of the Week honor in nearly two years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Off to a strong 3-0 start to the 2023-24 season, Clarke University women's basketball senior Nicole McDermott received the Heart of America Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor on Monday accoridng to Heart officials.

Playing twice last week in a non-conference game against Governors State and in the Heart opener against William Penn, McDermott helped lead the Pride to a pair of wins in a nailbiting 68-66 win over the Jaguars and a more comfortable 84-66 win over the Statesmen.

Against GSU, the Cascade, Iowa, native recoreded a team-high 24 points and a game-high 15 rebounds in a game-high 38 minutes on the floor for her second-straight double-double to start the season while adding three assists, two steals, and a blocked shot as her 17 second half points were much needed for CU's offense to battle a tough Governors State squad.

In a lighter workload against WPU, the two-time NAIA All-America Honorable Mention scored 18 points while adding seven rebounds, four assists, four steals, and another blocked shot as her 18 points was the second-highest total in the game.

This honor, the second in McDermott's career, is the first for Clarke women's basketball since 2021 when she also received the honor on Dec. 20 of the 2021-22 season where the Pride have gone nearly a season and a half without any individual weekly honors but have had the most All-Conference players in back-to-back seasons.

The Pride will continue with Heart play when they host No. 8 Central Methodist University this Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip against the Eagles in the Kehl Center before hitting the road this weekend to face Benedictine College on Saturday.