Beyer does it again as she is named AMC Player of the Week
As the weeks go by, UHSP's Grace Beyer continues to pile up Player of the Week awards from the American Midwest Conference. On Monday, Beyer was named the AMC's top women's player yet again for the week of Jan. 15-21. This marks the eighth time overall this season and the fifth consecutive week that the Eutectics' guard was named AMC's Player of the Week.
Beyer's resume for this past week included two game with the Eutectics beating Central Baptist but falling to Williams Baptist. Beyer went for 80 points in the two games combined with 47 of those coming in the stunning loss to the Eagles. UHSP had a 16-point lead at the half against Williams Baptist but lost by 19. The Eagle, WI native was efficient in the pair of games shooting a combined 22-of-38 from the floor (57.9%) connecting on three of her seven three-point attempts. Beyer was beyond efficient from the foul line in the two games, she was perfection despite shooting a high volume. Beyer made all 33 free throws she attempted in the two games, raising her season-long free throw percentage from 87.5% to 89.3% in just two games. She is now 24th in the country in free throw efficiency with Ella Collier of Marian leading the nation in that category shooting 97.9%. The Eutectics' guard has shot and made more free throws than any other player in the NAIA. Her 225 attempts are 42 more than her closest competitor while her 201 made foul shots are 47 clear of her nearest chaser. Haley Cox of Ohio Christian represents the closest player to Beyer in both those categories having gone 154-of-183 (84.2%).
Over the course of the two games this past week, along with averaging 40 points per game Beyer recorded 16 rebounds, 11 assists and a pair of steals. She continues to lead the country in scoring by a healthy margin as she sits at 34.5 points per game. Cox is second in the nation at 27.2ppg. There are only 14 players in the NAIA that average 20 points per game or better. That is not including Beyer who is almost halfway into the 30's. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently did a focus story on Beyer as she climbs the career points ladder in all ranks of college basketball.
Grace Beyer has had a stranglehold on the American Midwest Conference's women's Player of the Week award, well, really throughout her whole career, but especially this year. This past week was the 13th Player of the Week award doled out by the AMC and Beyer has collected eight of them. This marks the 31st overall Player of the Week award for the Eutectics' guard in her star-studded career. She also owns seven NAIA Player of the Week awards in her career, including receiving that honor last week.
UHSP has two games this week in which for Beyer to try and build her credentials for her sixth straight AMC POW award and ninth overall this campaign. The Eutectics visit Cottey (12-6, 4-4) on Thursday before traveling to Hannibal-LaGrange (4-10, 0-6) on Saturday. Beyer has put up good numbers throughout her career against both the Comets and the Trojans. In six career games against Hannibal-LaGrange, Beyer is averaging 29.3 points and 6.3 rebounds and in two games against Cottey she is averaging 30 points and seven rebounds per contest.