Epps earns espnW’s National Player of the Week
Kentucky guard Makayla Epps points to the ceiling before time runs out during the second half of the UK vs. South Carolina at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington , Ky., on Sunday, March 1, 2015. Photo by Jonathan Krueger
December 14, 2015
By Anthony Crawford
The junior standout, Makayla Epps, received some validation of her impressive season thus far when she received the National Player of the Week award from espnW for her play in UK’s games against Louisville and Middle Tennessee. Epps is the first UK player to earn a national player of the week award since Jennifer O’Neill in 2013.
The guard turned in two dominant performances in which she totaled 41 points on 75 percent shooting from the field.
The highlight of the week was her play against rival Louisville where she was able to contribute 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting.
Her efficiency has not stopped with just her shooting, as she also is one of the top players in the nation with her assist-to-turnover ratio. Her 51 assists to 16 turnovers, or +3.2 ratio, ranks 13th in the nation.
Epps has proved to be valuable for the Cats since her season started after sitting out two games because of a suspension. She leads the team in scoring with 17.3 points per game and is second in assists with 6.4 per game.
In first game back on the road, Epps lead the team in scoring and scored the last four points for the team to secure the win. In her next game, her first home game of the season, Epps finished with a triple-double for only the second time in the history of the women’s program at UK.
Moving forward, UK will need Epps to continue this play as they head into SEC play as one of the conference’s top teams.
