Bucknell University Athletics
Claire DeBoer Named Patriot League Rookie of the Week
2/3/2014 5:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team continued its winning ways last week, earning an 82-68 victory over Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday and sweeping Colgate for the first time since 2011 with a 64-54 home win on Saturday, improving to 12-8 overall and 7-3 in the Patriot League. On Monday, freshman forward Claire DeBoer (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) was named the Anaconda Sports Patriot League Rookie of the Week in acknowledgement of her stellar play in another impressive week of conference action for the Bison. DeBoer was selected as the conference's top rookie for the sixth time this season and the fourth in the last five weeks, having previously garnered the accolade on Dec. 2, Dec. 23, Jan.6, Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 and is one of only two Patriot League freshmen to be honored on more than one occasion.
DeBoer was quite impressive in Wednesday's win over the Mountain Hawks, tallying 17 points on 7-of-12 (.583) shooting from the field and 3-of-4 (.750) from the free throw line, and handing out two assists. The strength of her performance was not just on the offensive end however, as the rookie also collected a game-high nine rebounds in the contest. In Saturday's battle with the Raiders, she shot 2-of-6 (.333) from the field to score four points, but was much more impressive in other areas, pulling down seven boards, dishing out a career-high five assists and making a steal in 29 minutes of action. For the week, the forward averaged 50 percent shooting from the field, 3.5 assists per game, 8.0 rebounds per game and 10.5 points per game.
DeBoer has scored in double-digits in eight of the 17 contests in which she has started, and continues to lead all Patriot League freshmen in both scoring and rebounding, ranking 19th in the Patriot League with 10.2 points per game and sixth in the conference with 7.1 boards per contest. She is also averaging an impressive 11.7 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game in Patriot League competition, once again leading all rookies.
DeBoer and the rest of the Bison will make the short trip to Easton, Pa. on Wednesday to take on Lafayette in a 7 p.m. contest at the Kirby Sports Center. The Leopards, who tarnished Navy's undefeated conference record with a 70-69 win on Saturday night, have played to an 11-10 overall record and a 5-5 mark in the Patriot League. When the teams met on Jan.8 at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell overcame a 13-point deficit at the half to win 75-72 in a nail-biter. The contest will be video streamed and will be available free of charge on the Patriot League Network.
