Cierra Dillard is Leading the Nation in Points Per Game and Other Fun MAC Women’s Basketball Stats

As we get closer to conference play, I decided to peruse women’s basketball stats at ESPN.com. While women’s shootyhoops is so much more than just numbers, I decided to compile some of the ones I found most interesting.

First, let’s take a look at how the MAC stars compare in the national scene.

The Buffalo Bulls’ Cierra Dillard is leading the nation with 25.8 points per game. Central Michigan’s Presley Hudson is 7th, with 23.3 points per game. Both average over 5 assists per contest. It is safe to say the MAC Player of the Year contest is already in full swing. Northern Illinois’ Courtney Woods is the only other MACster over 20, at 20.1, and she is tied for 31st in the nation.

The MAC star in the top 50 in rebounds is CMU’s Reyna Frost, who is sitting at 10.8 boards per contest and number 28 in the nation.

Lauren Dickerson leads the MAC with 6.5 assists per game, good for 13th in the nation, of course. That’s her jersey number for those scoring at home. Presley Hudson is sitting at 6.3 and 21 in the nation.

Cierra probably means steal somewhere, as Ohio’s Cierra Hooks is 6th in the country with 4.1 per game, and Cierra Dillard is tied for 13 with 3.5. Eastern Michigan’s Danielle Minott cracks the top 50 with 2.8.

Presley Hudson hits 92.9% of her free throws. She is 9th in the country. That is a pretty interesting stat all the way around. Equally interesting is her teammate, Micaela Kelly is hitting 51.6% of her threes, and also is only 9th in the country. Bowling Green’s Andrea Cecil and Kelly’s teammate Maddy Waters are both over 50%, as well.

As far as team stats and the NCAA tournament, the RPI rankings are important, though not technically. 5 MAC teams are in the top 100. CMU sits at 48, while Ohio and Toledo are 72 and 74, respectively. Buffalo is 97, while Miami is 100, at least through Saturday’s games. Miami lost today, so they will drop.

Overall the footprint of the conference is solid, but not fantastic. However, that could change really quickly, as Central Michigan hosts #4 Louisville. The following day, #11 Stanford heads to Buffalo. Last year’s two sweet 16 teams could easily find themselves ranked in the top 25 with a pair of wins.