East Michigan News

Sisi Eleko, a junior from Eastern Michigan University's women's basketball team, has been recognized as the Mid-American Conference Player of the Week. The announcement was made by the conference on December 3. Eleko's performance contributed significantly to her team's 1-1 record last week, which included their first victory of the 2024-25 season.

Eleko is currently leading in scoring within the MAC. Last week, she averaged a double-double with 27 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Despite a loss to the University of Detroit Mercy on November 26, where the Eagles were defeated 72-61, Eleko scored a career-high of 31 points and secured 14 rebounds. She followed this with another strong performance against Xavier University on December 1, scoring 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds in a game that ended with a score of 72-60 in favor of Eastern Michigan.

Her performance against Xavier saw her contribute significantly in the second half after scoring just two points in the first half. Her efforts helped EMU overturn a 20-point deficit to secure their first win of the season under Head Coach Sahar Nusseibeh.

Eleko's achievements also include making six out of eleven three-point attempts against Xavier, marking her first back-to-back games with multiple successful three-pointers and extending her streak to five consecutive games with at least one three-pointer.

She is one of only two players in NCAA Division I averaging over 21 points and 12 rebounds per game this season. Nationally, she ranks sixth in scoring and second in rebounding.

This recognition marks Eleko's first weekly honor from Eastern Michigan and is notable as it is the first for an EMU player since Areanna Combs received it on December 8, 2020. Overall, Eleko becomes the program's 33rd player to receive such an honor from MAC, contributing to its total of 68 awards.

The next challenge for Eleko and her team will be against No.3 ranked University of Notre Dame on December 15 at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana. The game will start at 2 p.m. and can be watched live via ACC Network Extra.