KANSAS CITY – After putting together a pair of historic performances against Wayland Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle State last week, MACU Women's Basketball junior forward Taliah Lee has been selected as the NAIA Defensive Player of the Week.
Lee is the first MACU player to receive the NAIA Defensive Player of the Week honor since the award was introduced last season and is the first Evangel to receive an NAIA weekly honor since Sarai Rodriguez earned NAIA Player of the Week acclaim on Jan. 5, 2015.
Overall, the Spokane Valley, Wash. product was sensational on the defensive end, finishing the week with nine steals and eight blocked shots to go along with 16 defensive rebounds in a 77-65 win over Wayland Baptist and a 65-49 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Against the Flying Queens on Thursday, Lee notched the third-most blocks in a single game in the NAIA Era (2007-present) for the Evangels with a career-best five rejections as the Evangels as a team tied their single game blocks record with eight. Lee also tallied a pair of steals and pulled down 11 defensive boards to finish with 14 points and 13 total boards.
Lee was a defensive enforcer in the win over Oklahoma Panhandle State as well as her career-high seven steals tied the second-most by a MACU player to go along with three more blocked shots and yanked down five defensive rebounds, finishing with a line of 10 points and eight total boards.
So far, Lee has already broke into MACU's single season top 10 for blocked shots as her 22 rejections is tied for the seventh-most in a season with Syncere Harrod, who set the mark last season. Just past the midway point of the season, Lee will have the opportunity to skyrocket up the list as she only needs eight more blocks to move into third on the annual list.
Lee is also the first Evangel this season to earn multiple Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors this season as she also garnered the Defensive Player of the Week acclaim back on Nov. 10 after she notched four steals, three blocks, and seven defensive rebounds in a pair of wins over Cottey and Mission at the MACU Classic on Nov. 7-8.
