Editor's note: Charlie Creme, Graham Hays and Mechelle Voepel each vote to determine espnW's national player of the week, which is awarded every week of the women's college basketball season.
The new year has come in with some ruckus in women's basketball. Teams such as Baylor, Maryland and Kentucky -- all ranked in the top 10 -- lost for the first time this season. And there were so many notable performances, we had a rather vexing time deciding on our espnW national player of the week.
But when the dust cleared, for the second time this season, that honor goes to Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell. Her No. 9 Buckeyes beat No. 24 Michigan State 85-80 on Thursday and No. 6 Maryland 80-71 on Saturday. The latter was the Terps' first loss since joining the Big Ten last season; they went 18-0 in league play in 2014-15 and won the conference tournament championship over Ohio State.
But behind Mitchell's 28 points Saturday in College Park, Maryland, the Buckeyes handed the Terps their second defeat of the week. Maryland lost to No. 1 UConn on Dec. 28.
Mitchell was 10 of 20 from the field and 6 of 8 from the free throw line against Maryland, and she added four rebounds, four assists and four steals. The Terps and the Buckeyes will meet again on Feb. 8 (ESPN2) in Columbus, Ohio.
Thursday, Mitchell was plagued by shooting woes and struggled for a lot of the game, yet still ended up with 25 points in the victory over Michigan State to open the Buckeyes' Big Ten slate. Mitchell was 6 of 22 against the Spartans, including 0 of 10 from 3-point range. So it wasn't one of her more efficient performances, to say the least, from the field.
But she was golden from the free throw line -- 13 of 13 -- plus had five assists and four rebounds. Mitchell, who led Division I in scoring last year at 24.9 PPG, is averaging 24.7 so far this season and shooting 45.3 percent from the field. She previously was the espnW player of the week on Nov. 29.
The Buckeyes are 10-3, but their losses are to the top three teams in the country: UConn, South Carolina and Notre Dame. Ohio State, like Purdue, is off to 2-0 start in the Big Ten.
Also nominated: Nirra Fields, UCLA; April Robinson, Duquesne; Lexi Rydalch, BYU
Previous winners: Kelsey Mitchell (Nov. 29) | Courtney Walker (Nov. 22) | Vanessa Panousis (Dec. 6) | Makayla Epps (Dec. 13) | Megan Podkowa (Dec. 20)