Maryland women’s basketball’s Kaila Charles named Big Ten Player of the Week

For the first time this season, a Maryland basketball player has been named Big Ten Player of the Week.

Women’s basketball sophomore guard Kaila Charles took home the weekly honor after scoring a combined 49 points against Ohio State and Northwestern. Charles’ 32 points against the Buckeyes were a career high, and continued her streak of excellent performances against ranked opponents this season.

In four games against teams in the top 25, Charles has averaged 29 points and 10 rebounds a game on 56 percent shooting. She scored a then career-high of 31 points against South Carolina on Nov. 13, then had double-doubles against Connecticut on Nov. 18 and Iowa on Jan. 4.

Against Northwestern, Charles scored 11 points in the first quarter before going to the bench with foul trouble. She came back in the second half and finished with a team-high 17 points. Charles is currently averaging a team-high 17.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Along with Iowa’s Megan Gustafson, she’s one of two players in the top 10 in the conference in both categories.

This is Charles’ first player of the week award, and is the Terps’ first since Shatori Walker-Kimbrough won it last year.

Maryland is 18-3 this season and leads the Big Ten with a 7-1 conference record, and jumped up three spots to No. 11 in this week’s AP Poll. The Terps play five of their last eight regular season games on the road, and that difficult stretch starts this week with a home game against Rutgers and a trip to Nebraska for a Sunday matinee.

In other news

ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme currently has the women’s team hosting the first and second round in his latest projection, with Duke making a trip to the Xfinity Center.

Four-star point guard and Maryland target Tyger Campbell has Maryland in his top four ahead of his commitment announcement on Thursday.

The current Maryland basketball team’s failure in close games and rebounding struggles were big reasons why it couldn’t upset Michigan State on Sunday.

Maryland wrestling also had a tough weekend, falling at No. 15 Illinois.

It’s almost lacrosse season, though, and defending national champion Maryland women’s lacrosse is once again at the top of the rankings.