Maryland women’s basketball’s Shakira Austin wins Big Ten Freshman of the Week, again

Two weeks, two Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards for Maryland’s Shakira Austin.

ESPNw’s No. 4 overall recruit in the Class of 2018 won the award again after another impressive week in her young career, averaging nine points, 14 rebounds and three blocks per game in wins over George Washington and then-No. 10 South Carolina.

She posted eight points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in a 69-30 win against the Colonials, controlling the paint in a game where Maryland held GW to 17 percent shooting. In Columbia, Austin had 10 points, 16 rebounds and a block for her second career double-double while making a difference on the both end of the floor. Through four games, Austin has averaged 11.8 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3.8 blocks in 25 minutes per game, all while coming off the bench.

While Austin’s defense is ahead of her offense, she’s already made a huge difference for Maryland this season. At 6’5, Austin gives the Terps a post presence they didn’t have last year that can control the rim on both ends of the court.

Maryland is off to a 4-0 start and moved up to No. 7 in the AP Poll after running past South Carolina. The Terps will head to Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving weekend to play Morgan State on Friday and Georgia (who was ranked 14th last week but lost twice) on Saturday.

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