Rutgers Smikle Named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week
Kaylene Smikle of the Rutgers women’s basketball team has been named the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week. The weekly honor is the first for Rutgers this season and under head coach Coquese Washington. This is also the first Freshman of the Week honor for RU since Diamond Johnson earned the award on Dec. 21, 2020.
Smikle led the Scarlet Knights in scoring during both games this week with a career-high 26 points against Princeton (Dec. 15) and 19 points versus New Orleans (Dec. 18). She paces the team with 15.5 points per game.
Between the two contests she averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 boards, 2.5 assists, two steals and one block. The freshman set a new career bests with five assists against the Privateers and a tied her career-high of eight rebounds against the Tigers.
Smikle is the only Scarlet Knight to net 20+ points in a game, accomplishing the feat off the bench five times. She scored 22 against South Dakota State (Nov. 20), 23 against Cornell (Nov. 27), 21 against Ohio State (Dec. 4) 22 at Illinois (Dec. 7) in addition to her career-best 26 versus Princeton. The freshman has reached double-digit scoring in 10 of 14 outings this campaign.
The Farmingdale, New York product has also been solid from beyond the arc as her 24 three-pointers lead the Scarlet Knights. She has hit at least one three-pointer in every contest this slate and cashed in on two or more in five games, including three of the last four.
