(Charlotte, NC) – The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) named Waubonsee Community College's Niallie Evans the NJCAA Division II Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the first week of February. The sophomore from Aurora West High School broke the Chiefs' program record for points in a game on the way to averaging 24.7 points, 8.7 assists and nearly 4 steals per game in three Waubonsee victories.
Called Nia by her teammates, Evans capped off the successful week on Saturday afternoon by breaking the Chiefs' single-game record of 40 points jointly held by Brenda Morris (1997) and Essence Rayford (2019). The 5'4" guard booked 41 points in a lopsided 119-44 win over Wright College from Chicago on Sophomore Recognition Day. Evans drilled a 10-foot jumper in the lane early in the fourth quarter to break the program record and went to the bench where she received hugs and high-fives from her teammates and coaches. She finished the game 16 of 28 from floor with eight steals and five assists.
Evans began the week with a 13 point and eight assist performance in a 73-58 win at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake on February 3. Two days later she netted 20 points and handed out 13 assists as the Chiefs blasted Prairie State College 108-50 to improve to 7-3 in the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference. Behind Evans' record-setting performance, the Chiefs (21-5) then set a pair of team records and almost broke several others in routing Wright College. Coach Jim Williams' crew eclipsed the program mark of 118 points in a game set in 2021 when freshman guard Josie Larson nailed a pair of free throws in the final minute of play to give the Chiefs 119 points.
On the season Evans currently leads all NJCAA Division II players with 179 total assists and is second nationally averaging 6.9 assists per game. She is also fourth in made field goals with 194 and in total points with 511, seventh in steals with 90, and is among the top scorers ranking 13th with a 19.7 points per contest average. In addition, Evans is in the top 25 in free throw percentage, shooting 81.2 percent from the line to rank 24th overall.
