After leading the Missouri State women’s basketball team in scoring and helping the Lady Bears pick up their first victory of the 2007-08 season last week, junior forward Maggie Dwyer has been named Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week for Dec. 3-9, the league office announced Monday.

Dwyer averaged a team-best 15 points to go along with six boards as Missouri State split a pair of contests last week. Against Tulsa (Dec. 4) she scored 10 of her 12 points during a 34-13 Missouri State run that turned a 10-point deficit into a 42-31 halftime lead for the Lady Bears. Dwyer notched her first double-double as a Lady Bear, totaling a game-high 10 rebounds in the eventual 72-61 victory over the Golden Hurricane, MSU’s first of the season following six straight losses to start the campaign. The Grand Haven, Mich., native followed up that effort with an 18-point performance versus Saint Louis on Friday (Dec. 7). She converted 6-of-12 field-goal attempts in all and scored seven of her 12 first-half points in the first eight minutes of the game to help Missouri State build an early seven-point advantage.

Through the first eight games of the season, Dwyer is averaging a team-high 11.5 points per contest and shooting .462 (12-of-26) from three-point range.

Missouri State will travel to Tulsa on Saturday (Dec. 15) for a 7:05 p.m. contest against Oral Roberts, which will be televised locally in Springfield on Mediacom (MCC-14).