NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After scoring 20-plus points twice and handing out at least five assists in each of Vanderbilt women’s basketball’s three wins the opening week of the season, Ciaja Harbison has been named the SEC co-Player of the Week it was announced Tuesday.
The graduate transfer was the only student-athlete in the league to average better than 20 points and five assists per game the opening week of the season, posting 20.7 points, 6.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals per contest. Harbison scored more than 20 points in two of the Commodores’ victories, including a team season-high 28 in her debut for Vandy at Western Kentucky to go along with five assists, four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. She finished with seven points, seven assists and four steals three days later in a 30-point defeat of Samford, then recorded a game-best 27 points Sunday in a come-from-behind win at Columbia in which she scored 16 points in 18 minutes in the second half to help Vandy overcome an eight-point third-quarter deficit. Harbison added seven assists and four steals in the victory over the Lions.
In the three games, the guard shot 61.3 percent from the floor—including making 3 of 4 attempts from three-point range—and 80.8 percent at the foul line.
Harbison ended the week not only ranked among the SEC’s leaders in scoring and assists but included in the top 10 in the league in field-goal percentage and steals per game and the top 15 in free-throw percentage.
Her efforts helped the Commodores to their first 3-0 start in eight seasons.
