Mary Markaryan Wins SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week Award

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Mary Markaryan earned the SCIAC Women's Basketball Defensive Player of the Week Award for games through Sunday, Dec. 11, the league office announced today.

Markaryan keyed a fourth-quarter defensive effort that held Chapman to 1-11 shooting as CMS outscored the Panthers 20-7 over the last 10 minutes and picked up a big 62-49 road league win to move to 3-0 in SCIAC. She had a steal, a block, and three defensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, while helping to cover first-team All-SCIAC forward Julia Strand down the stretch, holding her to 5-17 field goal shooting for the game, including 0-4 in fourth. Markaryan finished the game with eight defensive rebounds, two steals and one block in 24 minutes.

Markaryan becomes the second straight Athena to win the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week honor after Ariana Dalia captured it last week after wins over Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental to begin league play. Dalia had five defensive rebounds and a block in the fourth quarter of the narrow win over Pomona-Pitzer, as CMS has showed an early propensity to dominate the final 10 minutes in league contests. 

CMS will step out of league this weekend when it plays its final game before the holiday break on Saturday against Lewis & Clark at 3 p.m.