BOZEMAN — For the second time this season, Montana State senior Esmeralda Morales has been named Big Sky Conference women's basketball player of the week, the league office announced Tuesday.
Morales, a 5-foot-5 guard from Spanaway, Wash., registered her first 30-point game of the season in the team’s biggest contest to date as the Bobcats defeated Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Ariz., in a clash of the only two unbeaten teams in the Big Sky.
“Esme had an incredible game,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “She just has a great knack for when to take over and when to get her teammates involved. She was able to score in a lot of different ways, and that puts a lot of pressure on the opponent.”
For the game, she went 9 of 17 from the field, 4 of 9 from long distance and 8 of 9 from the line. In addition, Morales added five assists, five rebounds, and three steals in just over 35 minutes of play.
For the weekend — which also included a road win at Northern Colorado — Morales averaged 22.5 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, 4.0 assists per game and 2.0 steals per game, while shooting 53.8% from the field, 42.9% from 3-point range and 78.6% at the line.
