WUSTL’s Melissa Gilkey Named UAA Women’s Basketball Athlete of the Week

St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 7, 2013 – Washington University in St. Louis sophomore forward Melissa Gilkey was named the University Athletic Association (UAA) Women’s Basketball Athlete of the Week, as announced by the Association.

Gilkey averaged 22.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in three wins for the No. 3-ranked Bears in a span of eight days. She recorded a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds in a 77-57 win at Webster University Dec. 29. Gilkey followed that with a career-high 25 points and eight boards the next day in an 82-73 win over Southwestern University (Texas). In Washington U.’s UAA opener Saturday, she scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the first half of a 96-67 win at the University of Chicago.

This season, Gilkey is leading the Bears with 16.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. She has scored in double figures in all 12 games, and has been the leading scorer for Washington U. in eight of those contests. Gilkey ranks in the top-five in the UAA in three individual categories – second in points per game (16.8) and field-goal percentage (56.7), and tied for fourth in rebounds per game (7.8).

Gilkey shared the UAA Athlete of the Week honor with Case Western Reserve University senior guard Evy Iacono, who broke her own single-game school record with 38 points in the Spartans’ 82-76 loss at Carnegie Mellon University Saturday.