With her clutch performance in leading the Youngstown State women's basketball team to a comeback win at Akron, YSU senior guard Kenya Middlebrooks has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week.
Middlebrooks, a native of Toledo, Ohio, scored 13 of her career-high 27 points in the final four minutes as YSU rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit. Middlebrooks was 8-for-12 from the field, including 6-for-9 from beyond the arc, and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the win.
With the Penguins down 67-62 at the 3:55 mark, Middlebrooks made two free throws to cut the deficit to three. She hit another charity toss at the 3:31 mark to make the score 69-65 with 3:31 left, and she went on to score the Penguins' final 10 points. Her jumper with 2:41 left got YSU within one, and she hit a 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining that gave the Penguins their first lead of the second half. Another triple put YSU ahead 76-72 with 50 seconds left, and she hit two free throws with 6.6 seconds left for the final margin.
Defensively, Middlebrooks had a steal with fewer than 50 seconds left when Akron trailed by four. She also grabbed the defensive rebound off an Akron miss with 23 seconds remaining.
Middlebrooks' previous career high in scoring was 23 points in February against Valparaiso. She surpassed 20 points for the fourth time in her career and for the second time in 2011-12. The senior guard has made a Horizon League-leading 23 3-pointers.
Middlebrooks and the Penguins will be back in action on Dec. 27 at Stony Brook.
