After leading the Missouri State Lady Bears to back-to-back road victories last week, junior forward Maggie Dwyer has earned her second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week honor and her fourth overall in 2007-08, the league office announced Monday (Jan. 21).

A 6-1 forward from Grand Haven, Mich., Dwyer played a pivotal role in Missouri State wins over UNI and Bradley last week, converting 69 percent of her second-half field goal attempts and shooting .538 from the field in all, while averaging 16.5 points to help the Lady Bears pick up their first two road victories of the season. Against UNI on Thursday, the Grand Haven, Mich., native went 4-of-4 from the floor in the second half and totaled 14 points, three rebounds and two assists in a 78-55 MSU win that snapped a 15-game road losing streak.

With the score knotted at 42-42 Saturday at Bradley, Dwyer scored eight of the next 10 MSU points to help spark a 28-10 scoring run that ultimately netted the Lady Bears’ fourth win in-a-row. She scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half, grabbed two boards and handed out a pair of assists in the 70-55 victory.

Dwyer, who was also tabbed for the same honor on Dec. 10, Dec. 26 and Jan. 14, is averaging a team-high 14.3 points per game, good for seventh in the Valley. She becomes the first Lady Bear to earn four weekly awards in a single season since Jackie Stiles was named MVC Player of the Week a conference-record seven times in 2000-01.

The Lady Bears (6-11 overall, 4-2 MVC) return home Friday (Jan. 25) for a 7:35 p.m. matchup against the MVC-leading Illinois State Redbirds (15-1 overall, 5-0 MVC) in a game that will be featured on the Valley’s television network and carried live in Springfield on FSN Midwest.