Jackson Free Press

Mississippi Valley State University women's basketball team has had a tough season. The Delta Devils have won just two games this season and are looking for bright spots to build upon before the conference tournament.

Junior center Azaria Howard, one of this season's impressive players, earned Co-Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Week after her games against Jackson State University and Grambling State University.

The Richland, Miss., native scored a team high 15 points and five rebounds in a 61-90 loss to the Tigers. She shot 4-for-8 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.

Against Grambling State, Howard dropped 18 points as she again led the team in scoring with five rebounds. She shot 5-of-8 in just 20 minutes on the court and went 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Her monster scoring game helped MVSU to a 68-57 victory for the second win of the season.

In the two games, Howard averaged 16.5 points and five rebounds as she shot 9-of-16 from the floor and 14-for-16 from the free throw line. The back-to-back double digit scoring games were just the fourth and fifth time Azaria had scored double-digits this season.

Against Colorado State University, Howard scored 12 points as she shot 6-for-10 from the field in a 46-65 loss. She scored 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting against Alcorn State University in a 67-81 defeat.

Howard's last double-digit game came against Southern University. She scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. Mississippi Valley State dropped the game 54-84.

This season, Howard has played in 20 games as she has averaged 15.6 minutes per game, 6.3 points, and 3.9 rebounds per game. She is shooting 46% from the field and 79% from the free throw line.

Mississippi Valley State will try to start a winning streak. The Delta Devils host Alabama State University on Saturday, Feb. 8, with tipoff at 2 p.m. MVSU next hosts Alabama A&M University on Monday, Feb. 10, with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.

There are just nine games left in the regular season. Mississippi Valley State still has time to try to get hot before the conference tournament begins in March. A hot team in the conference tournament has just as good a chance of winning as a team with the best record and happens each march as the madness hits college basketball.