Lauren Park-Lane Named SEC Player of the Week

Credit Mississippi State Athletics

The Southeastern Conference announced on Tuesday that graduate student guard Lauren Park-Lane was named SEC Player of the Week following her record-setting performance.

It marks the second-straight week that Mississippi State has had a player selected for the conference’s top weekly honor after graduate student center Jessika Carter earned SEC Co-Player of the Week on Dec. 19.

It also marks the first time that Mississippi State has had two different players voted for the distinction in consecutive weeks since Teaira McCowan and Anriel Howard were selected in the initial two weeks of the 2018-19 season and the first time that the Bulldogs have earned the award in back-to-back weeks since McCowan did so herself later in that same season.

“It is unbelievable, she is so special,” said head coach Sam Purcell following Park-Lane’s latest outing. “If you aren’t talking about Lauren Park-Lane across the country you are missing out. I am always say talk to us nice, but they better be talking nice about Lauren Park-Lane because this is a special player who came here and made sacrifices. I could not be a more proud coach.”

Park-Lane finished with a game-high 33 points on 11-25 from the field, 10-17 from three, in addition to a team-high tying six assists and four rebounds in 35 minutes that propelled Mississippi State to an 82-75 road victory over Colorado State inside Moby Arena on Dec. 20.

The 10 threes by Park-Lane surpassed the single-game record for most threes made by a Mississippi State player, women’s and men’s, and made her only the third player in SEC women’s basketball history to connect on 10 or more threes in an single game.

Park-Lane scored 21 of her 33 points in the second half – including 12 in the fourth quarter – to help Mississippi State overcome its largest deficit of the season after trailing by eight points entering the fourth quarter and outscore Colorado State 26-11 over the final 10 minutes to secure to the road win.

It marked the 13th career 30-point performance for Park-Lane and the highest scoring output by a Mississippi State individual this season.

Known for her elite court vision nationally, Park-Lane has led Mississippi State in assists in 13 of 14 games this season and ranks eighth nationally with 88 total assists. Park-Lane had only knocked down 11 three-point field goals through the first 13 games before her latest performance, but is converting on career-best 42.9 percent from behind the arc.

Mississippi State returns to Humphrey Coliseum on Friday, Dec. 29 to host Mississippi Valley State at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

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