Jan. 28, 2008

EASTON, Pa. - Senior Vanessa Van De Venter was named the Patriot League Women's Basketball Offensive Player of the Week and freshman LaKeisha Wright was named Rookie of the Week, the league announced on Monday. The honors are the second of the season for both players and come following Lafayette's two wins last week against Bucknell and archrival Lehigh.

The league's leading scorer, Van De Venter earned this most recent honor after scoring a combined 32 points in the Leopards' two league games. The Economics and Business major opened the week with 15 points and a career-tying five assists in Lafayette's 64-58 overtime victory at Bucknell on Wednesday. She capped the week off with 17 points in a 48-45 win over archrival Lehigh on Saturday. She also had five rebounds and went 2-of-5 from three-point range against the Mountain Hawks.

Van De Venter, the league's leading scorer, averaging 16.6 points per game. She has started all 20 games and reached double figures in 18 of those contests. Her 45.9 field goal percentage is good for second in the conference. Van De Venter has also pulled down a team-high 119 rebounds and has 572 for her career. She needs just 13 more boards to move into a tie for 10th all-time in Lafayette history.

Wright, a Computer Science major, finished the week with 26 points and like Van De Venter reached double figures in both games. She finished with 10 points and seven rebounds against Bucknell. She also added four assists, one block and two steals against the Bison. Wright then scored 16 points in the team's victory against Lehigh. She pulled down four rebounds and had two assists and one block in the win.

Wright has started all 20 games this season, the only freshman on the team to do so, and her 47.0 field goal percentage leads all Patriot League players. In addition, she is second on the team in rebounds (5.6 rpg) and total assists (48).

Lafayette is currently 12-8 overall, including a 4-1 mark in league play and the team is currently tied for first place in the Patriot League. The Leopards return to action when they travel to Army on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game.