BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The Mountain East Conference has announced the final set of MEC Male and Female Basketball Players of the Week awards for the 2024-25 season. The MEC Player of the Week awards are presented by The Health Plan.
 
West Liberty’s J.J. Harper is the MEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week with Concord standout Abbie Smith honored as the MEC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.
 
Harper, a 6-5 graduate student forward from Orlando, Fla., stuffed the stat sheet as the Hilltoppers closed out their eighth consecutive MEC championship run with convincing wins against Salem and Wheeling. Harper had 25 points, 7 assists and 4 steals as WLU set a school and conference single-game scoring record in a 162-106 rout of Salem on Wednesday. He backed that up with an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double in Saturday’s 119-103 victory over Wheeling.
 
A 6-2 junior forward from Little Hocking, Ohio, Smith averaged 22.5 points and 13.5 rebounds while shooting a blistering 75 percent (18-of-24) from the floor as the Mountain Lions split a pair of games last week. After scoring 22 points and grabbing a dozen rebounds in Wednesday’s 98-67 loss at West Virginia State, she had 23 points and 15 rebounds – her 16^th double-double of the season – in Saturday’s 99-75 victory over Glenville State.